Page:Poems Sigourney 1827.pdf/192

192  While the dark war-clouds gathering at his feet Involved the scene.—It was a holy sight To gaze upon that venerable man Remembering all his glories, all his toils, And feeling that his earth-receding grasp Was on the anchor of eternal life.— —But mid that reverent group, invisible To mortal ken, death's mighty angel stood, With long-commission'd dart; and when he read The Nunc Dimittis, in that eye serene, The sable of his ice-cold wing he wrapt Around the patriarch's bosom.— —Full of days, And full of honours, on the couch of rest He laid him down.—There was a fearful pause Too eloquent for tears,—and then there came The sigh of mourning thousands murmuring low In filial grief.—I listened as the dirge Closed that brief day, and thought how joy and wo Walk like twin sisters through the vale of life Twining its woof with good and evil threads, And scarce forbore to weep, though the bright star, Snatch'd from our lower firmament, would glow With added lustre in a deathless clime.

 

Turn from yon mountain-height and weep Thou philosophic maid! Who erst on Pindus' hallow'd steep The lore of heaven survey'd. 