oe 
“ 
POETRY. 
~- 
‘VERSES BY THOMSON ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. 
- For the Bee. 
Yr fabled muses I your aid disclaim, 
Your airy raptures, and yotrr fancied flame, 
True genuine woe my throbbing breast inépires, 
* Love prompts my lays and filial duty fires ; 
‘The soul springs instant at the warm design, 
And the heart dictates ev'ry flowing line. 
See! where the kindest, best of mothers lies, 
And death has fhut her ever weeping eyes 5 
Has lodg’d,~at last, peace in*her weary breast, 
And lull’d her many piercing cares to rest. 
No more the orphan train around"her stands, 
While herefull heart upbraids her needy hands ; 
“ No more the widow’s lonely fate fhe feels, 
The fhock severe that modest want conceals, 
‘Th’ opprefsor’s scourge, the scorn of wealthy pride, 
And poverty’s unnumber’d ills beside ; 
For see! attended by th” angelic throng, 
Thro” yonder worlds of light fhe glides along, 
And claims the well earn’d raptures of the fky3 
Yet fond concern recalls the mother’s eye; 
She seeks th’ unfriended orphans left behind, 
"So hardly left !-so bitterly resign’d 
" Still, still! is fhe-my soul’s divinest theme, 
The waking vision, and the wailing dream; 
Amid the ruddy sun’s ‘enliv’ning blaze, 
O’er my dark eyes her dewy image plays ; 
And in the dread dominion of the night, 
Shines out agiin the sadly p'ersing sight; 
Triumphant virtue all around her darts, 
And more than volumes ev’ry look imparts ; 
~ Looks !—soft, yet awful, melting, yet severe, 
‘Where both the mother and the saint are seen. 
But ah! that night—that*tert’ring night remafas, 
_ May darknefe"dye it with its deepest stains; 
May joy on it forsake her rosy bow’rs, 
And streaming sorrow blast its baleful hours ! 
Whea-on the margin of the briny flood, ; 
Chilf’d with a sad presaging damp I stood ; 
Took the last look ne’er to behold her more, 
And mix’d our murmurs with the wat’ry roar; 
Heard the last Words fall from her pious tongue, 
Then wild into the bulging vefsel flung, 
* Which soon, too soon, convey’d me from her sight, 
Dearer than life, and liberty, and light ! 
VOL. ix. Zz ¢ 
