I sit by the fire musing, <br />With sad and downcast eye, <br />And my laden breast gives utt’rance <br />To many a weary sigh; <br />Hushed is each worldly feeling, <br />Dimmed is each day-dream bright— <br />O heavy heart, can’st tell me <br />Why I’m so sad to-night? <br /> <br />’Tis not that I mourn the freshness <br />Of youth fore’er gone by— <br />Its life with pulse high springing, <br />Its cloudless, radiant eye— <br />Finding bliss in every sunbeam, <br />Delight in every part, <br />Well springs of purest pleasure <br />In its high ardent heart. <br /> <br />Nor yet is it for those dear ones <br />Who’ve passed from earth away <br />That I grieve—in spirit kneeling <br />Above their beds of clay; <br />O, no! while my glance upraising <br />To yon calm shining sky, <br />My pale lips, quivering, murmur, <br />“They are happier than I!” <br /> <br />But, alas! my spirit mourns <br />As, weary, it looks back— <br />Finding naught of good or holy <br />On life’s past barren track— <br />I mourn for the countless errors <br />That on mem’ry’s page crowd on, <br />And sorrow for lost chances <br />Of good I might have done. <br /> <br />But, courage! I must arouse me, <br />The day is not yet o’er, <br />And I still may make atonement <br />Ere leaving life’s last shore: <br />One act of meek oblation, <br />A tear of penance bright, <br />Will be counted as rare treasures <br />In heaven’s loving sight.<br /><br />Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-thoughts-to-night/
