I Would Not Live Alway.



I looked upon the fair young flowers
That in our gardens bloom,
Gazed on their winning loveliness,
And then upon the tomb;
I looked upon the smiling earth,
The blue and cloudless sky,
And murmured in my spirit's depths,
"O I can never die!"
  
I heard my sister's joyous laugh,
As she danced lightly by,
Her heart was glad with love and hope,
Its pulse with youth beat high;
I sought my mother's quiet smile,
She fondly drew me nigh,
And still I said within my heart,
"O I can never die!"
  
Stern winter came, - the fairy flowers
Were swept by storms away,
And swiftly passed the verdant bloom
Of summer's lovely day;
My mother's smile grew more serene,
And brighter was her eye,
And now I know her only as
An angel in the sky.
  
And sorrow's wing had cast a shade
Upon my sister's smile,
Had checked the voice of gladsome mirth,
And bounding step the while;
And when the bright spring came again,
And clouds forsook the sky,
Then I knelt down and thanked my God
There was a time to die.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

58 sec read
4

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababcdxD xdxdedxD afbfxdxd xecexdxd
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 958
Words 191
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Mary Gardiner Horsford

Mary Gardiner born 1824 died 1855. Born Mary L'Hommedieu Gardiner on September 26, 1824, daughter of Samuel and Mary Catherine Gardiner, Mary married Eben Norton Horsford August 4, 1847. She was privately tutored as a young child but later attended the Albany Female Seminary where she met Eben. more…

All Mary Gardiner Horsford poems | Mary Gardiner Horsford Books

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