Sunday, May 30, 2010

Memorial Day Reminiscence

"Ring out the grief that saps the mind
for those that here we see no more."

excerpt from the long poetic requiem "In Memoriam A. H. H."
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809 - 1892
Poet Laureate of Victorian England, 1850 - 1892, and
still one of the most popular poets in the English language.

Churchyard at St. Mary's, in Little Crosby, Liverpool, England

A Reminiscence
Yes, thou art gone! and never more
Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;
But I may pass the old church door,
And pace the floor that covers thee,

May stand upon the cold, damp stone,
And think that, frozen, lies below
The lightest heart that I have known,
The kindest I shall ever know.

Yet, though I cannot see thee more,
'Tis still a comfort to have seen;
And though thy transient life is o'er,
'Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;

To think a soul so near divine,
Within a form so angel fair,
United to a heart like thine,
Has gladdened once our humble sphere.


by Anne Brontë, 1820 – 1849
British novelist and poet,
youngest member of the Brontë literary family.

This poem appeared in 1946, in Poems By
Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
-- the pen-names chosen by
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne for their first book of poetry.

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