AFTER DEATH. When the light was extinguished, To keep me from harm To the queen of the angels And I lie so composedly, (Knowing her love) That you fancy me dead; And I rest so contentedly, (With her love at my breast) That you fancy me deadThat you shudder to look at me, Thinking me dead. But my heart it is brighter Stars in the sky, For it sparkles with Annie It glows with the light Of the love of my Annie With the thought of the light Of the eyes of my Annie. Edgar Allan Poe. 117 118 INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, To me did seem The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more! The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose; The moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep,- Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the call The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; My head hath its coronal, The fulness of your bliss, I feel-I feel it all. While Earth herself is adorning This sweet May morning; And the children are pulling In a thousand valleys far and wide -But there's a tree, of many, one, Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream? 119 |