New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-11-11
TT Old Fi.hermnn's Widow, Mourning
for Her Son, for Many Years Absent
ats sea. For The Tribune.
flor The Tribune,


walked the verge of ocean grand,
Where fisher huts o'erspread the beach,
Watching the waves as each on each
They frothed and ripplcd to tho Land.
Il was lone, neglected spot,
With here and there the sedgy grass,
A pine tree rusted with the rot
cedar nodding as pass
With here and there bayberry hedge
Fas,-rooted by the waters edge.
turned me from the waste Of foam
To gaze upon cabn-homo
And there, beside the open door,
An old. old woman, blind and gray,
SAT i'm the sunshine Of the floor,
And these sad-multcrcd words did say:
"Ah' two-score years have slowly passed,
Yes, two-scorc years Of ebb and flow,
SIM, with my boy parted last
TwoscOro of heightened years ago.
Thea golden-fair his ringlets shonc
Like roses red his checks were bright,
His ewes were like jewel-stone,
As brilliant as the morning light;
But two-score years their work have done,
And two-score years have blanched my check,
Sown ages blossoms white and bleak;
And two.score years have cast their SHOWS,
Deaths Hlios, on those cheeks Of rose,
Since ne departed. Much fear
He d never know me were he here
fsAnd now the leaning tablets hide
Him. that once chose me for his bride,
For two-score years above his head
Clover hath bloomed, and grass is spread!
The very day my boy did sail
HIS sire began to droop and fail.
And soon the partner of my days
Vanished in darkness from my gao
81 keep his little playthings still
His brittle, worn, familiar toys,
The cradle that lie used TO fill
love them, for they were my boys
ii tinsel sword, the drum be beat,
The crimson feathercd cap he wore,
Strutting with childish, tottering feet,
Across the cabins sanded floor
But most his painted boat he d prize,
The triumph of his fathers art
Dear was its pennant TO bis eyes,
lis white sail precious TO his heart
"Anl now, if living, he lath grown
rough and bearded man of mold.
The luster in his eyes that shone,
All faded, colorless and cold
Pcrchance he sails the stormy seas
rover in some pirate-crcw,
Shouting amid them in the breeze,
Wild words Of imprecation, too!
81 dom think OF him as dead,
On desert isle, or barren shore,
Placed by his shipmates in his bed,
Whore rough the foreign breakers roar
Perchsnce in some fan tropic bay,
In some sequestclcd island cove,
Where the tall palm-tree shadows play
And birds of brilliant plumage rove,
Is scooped my absent darling's grave,
Whore Indian forests scent the air,
Whore the bananas clusters wave,
And tamsrind thickets blossom fair
Il udder as ! think that now
Tia. gentle head l loved TO bless,
Tha. rosy check, that open brow,
The brown locks dear to my carcss,
Have By the rufiian steel been scored,
All gdshed with ruthless scar and wound,
Or that his lawless hand hath poured
The blood Of othcrs TO The ground
o. darling. let me never dream
Those sinless lips sealed with payer,
Have ordered where the sabers CLEAN,
Sulned with oaths Gods blessed air!
Or HAT the hands loved 20 fold
IN worship, when be sought his rest
Redeemed with blood, though filed with gold,
Have on some gasping throat been prest
"Ah darling, come from foreign skies,
A man Of peace or man of crime,
Come. close thy aged mothers eyes,
Come soon, come quickly, while t is tineF