Public-domain source text

A Reverie

by Mary Weston Fordham

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/mary-weston-fordham_magnolia-leaves

Yon may speak of a grave in a distant land, Or of one ’neath ocean’s foam, Where the dolphins play o’er the sunny spray, Far from the dear old home; Where the coral peaks form a glorious tomb, And the mighty waters lave, But there is naught in the wide world sought Like the heart’s deep anguished grave.
You may tell of a grave ’neath the burning sands Of the tropics fevered zone; Where silence reigns o’er the desert plains So desolate, so forlorn. Where the lion’s roar is the liveliest sound That o’er that waste is heard⁠— And the forest bird hymns a plaintive lay, A requiem for the dead.
Again you may tell of a grave unsought Far from the home of youth; Where the willow weeps as the exile sleeps Akin to Mother Earth. But O! methinks, there’s not a woe That can the bosom cleave, Or as deeply wound, as the lowly mound O’er the heart’s deep, anguished grave.

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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