Revisited

Once on my heart there fell a crushing weight
Heavy and cold; and earth, and sea, and sky
Their brightness lost for me, as if one life
Held in itself all visible delight,
All possible joy, that with its lapse were gone.
For when that life which had companioned mine
Left the sweet form that gave me hints of heaven,
The very sun seemed darkened, as it, too,
Felt sorrow's sad eclipse. Nor odorous air,
Nor flowers fresh-blooming, nor the songs of birds,
Nor Nature's wondrous harmonies from the wood.
And running stream, and dashing waterfall,
Flung out continuously, nor the sweet voices
Of children at their play, nor the soft gleam
Of eyes that spoke of love, nor words of hope
Breathed from affection's lips, nor kind appeals
To look to Him whose chastening hand is laid
In tenderest pity on His little ones,
Could bring me peace, or from my crushed heart lift 
That icy weight of sorrow. To myself 
I seemed forlornest of earth's multitudes,
And hugged my selfish grief by day and night,
And fed my hungry soul with bitter thoughts, 
And in the darkness communed with despair. 
O, impious! Thus God's goodness to impeach, 
And war insanely with the LOVE DIVINE!

Years have gone by: and I — who long have been
Over the earth a wanderer, seeing oft
The woe I could not heal, and hearing oft
The unconscious sigh that seemed to mock my own
(Thus taught that sorrow is our common lot,
And all the holy power of sympathy),
Still not forgetting, but with tenderer grief
Remembering my dead — stand yet again
Beside the grave that holds the dearest dust
That God e'er fashioned to a human form!
How through a thousand changes that have passed
Over my life — through trials manifold,
Temptations, conflicts, triumphs, griefs, and joys;
Through toils that nerved and pains that racked my frame; 
Or on the waste of ocean, or amid 
The surging billows of a human sea 
In million-peopled cities — how through all 
Has memory turned to this thrice-hallowed spot, 
My sad soul's Mecca! Sorrow's holiest shrine! 
Where thoughts all tender, and affections pure, 
Cluster and dwell; for when the pitying years
Had mellowed my despair to fond regret, 
New feelings sprung to life within my soul, 
And love for her whose love had been my heaven, 
Widened to love for wide humanity!

Hallowed by dust that once enshrined a soul
Whose presence made its human all divine,
Than this green grave my wandering feet have found 
No holier spot beneath the cope of heaven. 
And, kneeling here, I feel the circling wings 
Of angels fanning, with their rhythmic beat, 
The air made odorous with celestial flowers 
And vibrant with celestial melodies; 
While tender memories of the past throng back, 
And gleams of joy supernal visit me, 
And all my conscious spirit seems aflame 
With light from love's divine Apocalypse!