Deceitful worm, that undermines the clay, <br />Which slyly steals the thoughtless soul away, <br />Pervading neighborhoods with sad surprise, <br />Like sudden storms of wind and thunder rise. <br /> <br /> <br />The sounding death-watch lurks within the wall <br />Away some unsuspecting soul to call: <br />The pendant willow droops her waving head, <br />And sighing zephyrs whisper of the dead. <br /> <br /> <br />Methinks I hear the doleful midnight knell-- <br />Some parting spirit bids the world farewell; <br />The taper burns as conscious of distress, <br />And seems to show the living number less. <br /> <br /> <br />Must a lov'd daughter from her father part, <br />And grieve for one who lies so near her heart? <br />And must she for the fatal loss bemoan, <br />Or faint to hear his last departing groan. <br /> <br /> <br />Methinks I see him speechless gaze awhile, <br />And on her drop his last paternal smile; <br />With gushing tears closing his humid eyes, <br />The last pulse beats, and in her arms he dies. <br /> <br /> <br />With pallid cheeks she lingers round his bier, <br />And heaves a farewell sigh with every tear; <br />With sorrow she consigns him to the dust, <br />And silent owns the fatal sentence just. <br /> <br /> <br />Still her sequestered mother seems to weep, <br />And spurns the balm which constitutes her sleep; <br />Her plaintive murmurs float upon the gale, <br />And almost make the stubborn rocks bewail. <br /> <br /> <br />O what is like the awful breach of death, <br />Whose fatal stroke invades the creature's breath! <br />It bids the voice of desolation roll, <br />And strikes the deepest awe within the bravest soul.<br /><br />George Moses Horton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-death-14/
