The Nest Among the Graves

By Mrs. Sigourney.

The cloudless sun went down

Upon a church-yard scene,

And there a quiet nest I marked

Hid in an evergreen,

As wandering mid the hallowed mound,

With velvet verdure drest,

I paused where two sweet sisters lay

In death's unbroken rest.

 

There was a marble seat

Beside that couch of clay,

Where oft the mournful mother sat

To pluck the weeds away,

And blest each infant bud

And every blossom fair,

That breath a sigh of fragrance round

The idols of her care.

 

The unfledged birds had flown

Far from their nest away,

Yet still within the imprisoning tomb

Those gentle sleepers lay;

But surely as those bright winged birds

Forsook the sheltering tree,

And soared with joyous shout to heaven

Such shall their rising be.

May 15, 1846. Burlington Free Press 19(50): 1.