Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-11-22
POETRY.

The following exquisite production IS
from the pen OF our countryman Doc'or
P2rcivai. Sass
She sat beside her lover, and her hand
Rested upon his clav-cold fore-head,-Death
Was calmly stealing DER him, and his life
Went out by silent chickering's, when his eye
Woke up from its dim lethargy, and cast
Bright looks offondness on her He weak,
Too weak to utter all his heart-His eye
Was now his onlv language, and it spake
How much he felt her kindness, and the love
That sat. when all had fed, beside him.--Night
Was far upon its watches, and the voice
Osnature had no sound The pure blue sky
Was fair and lovely, and the many stars
Look d down in tranquil beauty on an earth
That sum d in sweetest summer. She look'd
out
Tbro' the rais'd window, and the sheeted bay
Lay in quiet sleep below, and shone
With the pale beam Of midnight-air was still,
And the white sail, that DER the distant stream
Nov with So slow pace, 1t seem'd at rest,
Fix'd in the CLASSY water, and with care
Shun'd the dark den Of pestience, and stole
Pearfully from the tainted gale, that breath'd
Softly along the crisping wave The sail
Hun. loosely on its yard, and as it happ'd
Caught moving undulations from the light,
That silently come down, and gave the hills,
And spires, and walls, and roofs, a tint SO pale,
Death seem'd on all the landscape-but 50 still,
Who wo Id have thought that any thing but
peace
And beauty had dwelling there? The world
Had zone, and life was not within those walls,
Only afew, who hnger'd family on,
Wai,ine the moment OF DEPARTURE; or
Sat tending at their pillows from love
So strong, it master'd fear-and they were few,
And she was one land in lonely house,
Far from all sight and sound of living thing,
She watch the couch Of him she lov'd; * drew
Conta zion from the lips that were to her
Still beautiful as roses, tho SO pale
Theyseem'd like a tS in snow curl All still,
And even so deeply hush'd, the low. faint breath
That trembling gasp'd away, came thro' the
night
As load sound of awe She passed her hand
Ovei those qIivering hips that ever grew
Paler and colder, as the only sign
To tell her lie still ngered it went out!
And her heart sank within her, when the last
Weak sigh of life was over, and the room
Seem'd like vaulted sepulchre. SO lone
She dar d not look around: and The light wind
That PLAYED among the leaves and flowers that
grew
Still freshly at her window, and wav d back
The curtain with rushing sound. to her,
N her intense abstraction. seemed the dice
Ola departed spirit then she heard,
At least in fancy heard, awhisper breathe
Close at her ear and tell her all was done,
And her fond loves were ended -.-She lad
watch'd
Until her love grew manly, and she checked
The tears that came to flow. s nerv'd her heart
To the last solemn duty With hand
That trembed not. she clos'd the fsIlenl lid,
And press'd the lips. & gavethem one long kiss:
Then decently spread over all a shroud;
And sittinI Nth look of lingering love
Intense in fearless passion, rose at length,
And pressing both her hands upon her brow,
Gave looseto all her gushing grief in showers,
Which, are fountain seal'd till it had swelld
TO it's last fullness, now gave way and flow'd
In a deep st cam OF sorrow She grew calm
And parting hack the curtains, look d abroad
Upon the moonhg ht loveliness. all sunk
In one unbroken silence, save the moan
From the lone room of death. or the dull sound
Ofthe slow moving hearse The homes ofmen
We now all desolste, and darkness there,
And solitude and silence took their seat
In the deserted streets, as if the wing
OF destroving angel had goneb BY,
And blasted all existence, and had chang'd
The CAV, the busy, and the crowded mart
10 one cold sneechless city of the dead