Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-07-20
THE DEATH OF POE'S SWEET.
HEART.


From the Graphic.
Announcement IL made Of the death O
Sarah Helen Whitman, at Providence, o
heart disease. To this lady Poe was To-
some time engaged In marriage, but the lad,
wisely made the engagement conditional
and the weakened, dissoluie poet was una.
bic 10 observe the conditions, and they part
ed. In his lecture on poetry he awarded Il
her n "pre-eminence In refinement of art
enthusiasm. imagination and genius" an es.
innate which the cultured lady scarcely
Justified. IL was in September, ls4s, thai
they became acquainted. and he thereafter
often visited her In Providence. His pub
iished letters 20 his HGncee show much deli
cacy and refined moral sense, and are
among the most crediiable Of all his writ
ings. But some Of them betray, in the Ian.
guage Of Sarah Whitman, the agony OF the
conflict in which be was foredoomed 10 de-
feat, with q power which no added word
could heighten." The romantic circum-
stances attending HE first meeting with this
lady have been beautifully narrated by him
self In MS poem :" To Helen" rs follows:
TO HELEN.
saw thee onee--onee onIy-years ago,
must not say bow nany-but not many
IL was July midnight. and from out
fnll-orbed moon, that. like thine own soul,
Sought preeipitate pathway up through
Heaven.
With Gnietnde and sultriness and slumber,
Upon the upturn'd faces of n thousand
Roses that grew in al enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared TO stir, unless on tip
toe
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
Ihst gave out, IL return for the love light.
Their odorous souls in an ecstatte death
Fell ON the uI'turn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died ia this parterre en-
chantsd
By thee and by the poetry of thy presence.
Clad all in white upon violet bank
l saw thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses
And on thine own. upturn'd- alas, in sorrow
Was IT not fate that on this July midnight
Was IL not late lwhose name is also sorrow
That bade me pause before that garden gate
TO hreashe the incense of those slumberins
No foots,ep stirred the hated world all slept.
save only thee and me. toh. Heaven,-oh,
How my heart beats in coupling those two
words
Save only thee and me. paused-I looked
And In an instant all things disappeared
TAN, bear IN mind this garden was enchant-
Tue pearly luster OF the moon went ont;
The inossy banks and the meandering paths, |
The happy flowers and the repining trees
Were seen no more the very roses odors
Died in the arms OF the adoring airs.
Aii-all expired save thee-save less than
save only the divine light in thine eyes
save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
! saw but them-they were the world to me.
l saw bat them-saw only them for hours
saw only then until the moon went down.
What WILD heart histories seemed tu be en-
written
Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres,
How dark a woi yet how sublime "A hone,
How silently serene a sea of pride,
How daring an ambition, yet how deep
Hc~ fsthomless capacity for love,
But now, at length. dear Dian sank from
sight,
Into "A western couch Of thunder cloud;
And thou, ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained
They would not go-they never yet have
gone.
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night.
They have not lett me las my hopes have)
since
They follow me-they lead me through the
years.
They are my minIsters-yet their slave,
Their Office Is 10 illuminate and enkipdle-
Nv duty to be saved by their bright light
And purified IN their electric fire.
And sanctihed in their elysian IRE
They MI my soul with Beauty (which Is
Hope)
And are far up In Heaven-the stars kneel to
In the sad silent watches of my night;
W bile even in the meridian glare of day
see them stlll-two sweetly scintillant
Venuses, uneNtingIished by the sun,