Heart Songs

<h2><SPAN name="MAVOURNEEN" id="MAVOURNEEN"></SPAN>Mavourneen</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="letra">S</span>O still you sleep upon your bed,<br/></span> <span class="i2">So motionless and slender,<br/></span> <span class="i0">It cannot be that you are dead,<br/></span> <span class="i2">My little maiden tender.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">You were no creature pale and meek<br/></span> <span class="i2">That death should hasten after,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The red rose bloomed upon your cheek,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your lips were made for laughter.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">To you the great world was a place<br/></span> <span class="i2">That care might never stay in,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A playground built by God’s good grace<br/></span> <span class="i2">For happy folks to play in.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">You made your footpath by life’s flowers,<br/></span> <span class="i2">O happy little maiden,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The sky was full of shine and showers,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The wind was perfume-laden.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I came and found you sweet and wild,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Love&mdash;only love&mdash;could tame you,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To think, O pretty thoughtless child<br/></span> <span class="i2">That greedy death must claim you.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_144" id="page_144"></SPAN>{144}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Your dimpled hands are folded now<br/></span> <span class="i2">Above the snowy bosom,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The lilies creep and kiss your brow,<br/></span> <span class="i2">O tender broken blossom!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The white lids hide the eyes so clear,<br/></span> <span class="i2">So witching and beguiling,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But as my tears fall on you dear<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your lips seem softly smiling.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And do you feel that it is home,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The City we call heaven?<br/></span> <span class="i0">Ah! were they glad to have you come,<br/></span> <span class="i2">My little maid of seven?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Methinks when you stand all in white<br/></span> <span class="i2">To learn each sweet new duty,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Some eye will note with keen delight<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your radiance and beauty.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And when your laughter softly rings<br/></span> <span class="i2">Out where God’s streets do glisten,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The angels fair will fold their wings<br/></span> <span class="i2">And still their song to listen.<br/></span></div> </div></div> <p class="c"><ANTIMG src="images/deco.png" width-obs="25" alt="[Decorative image unavailable.]" /></p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_145" id="page_145"></SPAN>{145}</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />