Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1881-02-11

FALLEN.
BY CAPT. II. 7. STANTON.

The iron voice from yonder spire has hushed
its hollow tone.
And midnight finds me lying here, in silence
and alone
The still moon through my window sheds
its soft light on the floor,
With a melancholy paleness | have never
seen before,
And the summer wind comes to me with its
Eolian lay,
AS if burthened with the sorrows of a weary
day;
Yet the moonlight cannot soothe me of the
sickness here within,
And the sad wind takes no portion from my
bosoms weight of sin.
Yet my heart and all its pulses seem so
quietly TO rest,
That scarcely feel them beating in my arms
or in my breast
And those wounded limbs are resting now
SO still upon the bed,
That one would think, to see me here, that
Twas laying dead.
What if 'twere SOP What if died--died as
am lying now,
With something like to virtues calm upon
this marble brow?
What if l died tonight? All now this
slothful heart begins to beat
A fallen wretch like me- to pass from earth
so sadly sweet
Yet am calm-as calm as clouds that slowly
float and form,
Togive their fearful strength to some unpity-
ing summer storm;
AS calm as great Sahara, ere the simeon
sweeps its waste,
Or as the wide sea, ere the white waves all
its shores have laced.
Still, still | have no tear to shed these eye
lids have no store
The fountain once within me is fountain
now no more.
The moon alone weeps for me now, the pale
and thoughtful moon;
She weeps for dying Mary, through all the
nights sweet noon
What if died tonight, within these gilded,
wretched walls?
Upon whose crimson trappings no eye of
virtue ever falls;
What would its souless inmates do when
they had found me here,
With cheek too white for passions smile,
too cold for passions tear z?
Oh one would come and from these arms
unclasp the baube bands,
Another, wrench the jewels off my fairer,
whittier hands;
This splendid robe another's form would
grace, Oh long before
The moonlight came again to sleep upon the
floor
And when they laid me down in earth where
pauper graves are made,
Beneath ho bending willows angel-haunted
shade,
Who'd come and plant flower DER poor
Mary's friendless grave,
Or trim the tangled wild grass that no sum
mer Wind could wave?
Who'd ralSe stone to mark it from the
ruder graves around,
That the passing strangers footsteps might
respect the spot ofground?
No stone would stand above me, no little
waving tree,
No hand would plant flower DER fallen
wretch like me Il
What if died tonight And when to-
morrow's sun had crept
Where late the softer moon in virgin beauty
slept,
They'd come and find me here Oh who
would weep to see me dead?
Who'd bend the knee of sorrow by the pulse
less wonton's bed2
There's one would come-my mother God
bless the angel band
That bore her, ere her daughter fell, TO yon-
der quiet land.
Thank God for all the anthems that the
gladden'd angels sung
When my mother went TO Heaven, and |
was pure and young
And there's another too, would cOme-a
man upon whose brow
My shame has wrought the winter snow to
rest so heavy now;
Yes, he would come, with manhood's tears
all burning down his cheek
Had reasons kingdom stronger been where
virtue grew so weak,
My sisters and my brothers all, thank God
are far away;
They'll never know how died the one who
mingled in their play
They'll never know how wretchedly their
darling sister died
The one who smiled whene'er they smiled,
who cried whene'er they cried.
I'm all alone tonight How strange it is
that should be alone!
This splendid chamber seems TO want some
r0ue's wOnted tonel
Yon soulless mirror, with its smooth and all
unvarnished face
Sees not these jeweled arms tonight in their
unchaste embrace,
Oh have fled tho fever Of that heated,
crowded hall,
Where might claim the richest and the
gayest Of them all
Where | could smile upon them, with that
easy, wonton grace,
Which subdues the blood Of virtue that
would struggle in my face
But hate them all, ] scorn them, as they
scorn me on the street,
i could spurn away the pressure that my lips
so often meet
could trample on the ucre that their pas
sion never spares,
For they've robbed me ola heritage ofgreater
price than theirs
They can never give me back again what !
have thrown away
The brightest jewel woman wears through
out her little day;
The brightest and the only one, that from
the cluster riYep,
Shuts out forever womans heart from all its
hopes Of Heaven.
What If died tonight? What If died as
am lying here
There's many green leaf withers ere the
Autumn comes 10 scar!
There's many "a dew-drop shaken down ere
yet thesunshine came
And many spark hath died before IL wax
ened into flame
What II diod tonight, and left these
wretched bonds Of clay.
To seek beyond the hollow sphere a brighter
better day!
What If my soul passed out and sought that
haven Of the blest,
"Where the wicked cease from troubling,
and the weary are at rest ~
Would angels call mefroma above and beckon
iGe 10 CONS
And join them In their holy songs In that
eternal homey
/ Would they clasp their hands In gladness
when they saw my soul set free,
/ And point beside my mother 10 a place re-
served for mey
/ Would they meet Inc as a sister, ~ one Of
precious WORTH
/ Who hgd Won place Ia Heaven by her
holiness on earth
Oh God, ! would not have my soul 10 go
out upon the air,
With all rs weight Of wretchedness, b. wan.
der wheTei Oh whercy
,Ionqc thinks "a man IL fariuuate " bu