Twice Crowned
O fair young Bride! I have seen thee stand
On the golden shore of the Eden Land,
By airs from its asphodel gardens fanned,
That bloom by the Beautiful River;
A glory fell on thy soft brawn hair,
From the luminous depths of its purple air.
And it seemed the crown of thy birth right there,
The dawn of thy blest Forever!
What a patient smile, was on thy lip,
As the Pallid Angol stood to dip
His oar in the waves that rose to slip
O'er thy feet, by the Beautiful River;
Then the Cherub of Life almost reversed
His flaming torch for thy Hymen nursed,
And the light of thy soul through its thin walls burst,
As if leaving earth forever!
But the torch of the Cherub caught the breath
Of a human love more strong than death,
And it rose again! and thy sweet soul hath
Returned from the Beautiful River,
To bear, in the glance of thy luminous eyes,
The purple light of that Paradise,
To souls who are thine by the sacred ties
That cling though the dim Forever.
O fair young Bride! as I see thee now,
With the Orange and Myrtle upon thy brow,
Where the lilies of Eden had flung their glow,
From over the Beautiful River,
I say, "May the Angels guard thee well,
And thy marriage garland of mingled smell,—
Love's Myrtle with Heaven's white Asphodel, —
May it bloom as purely forever!".
- Title
- Twice Crowned
- Creator
-
George Shepard Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- George S. Burleigh Papers, 1825-1902. John Hay Library, Brown University. Large Scrapbook 185-186.
- Date
- 1869
- Subject
- Marriage
- Death
- Illness
- note
-
This poem has an extended introductory essay:
"It was a beautiful thought of the ancients that the Angel of Life, the hymen of our earthly nuptials, is the same love that, standing with inverted torch, is the Angel of Death. The life that is lived in harmony with that faith, is the one victorious life worthy of all emulation.
The Marriage Hymn that follows, celebrates the nuptials of such a soul, a lovely young lady, in one of the shore towns of our little State. All the preparations for her wedding had been made, and she was waiting the near approach of the happy day. when she was stricken down with disease, which, for nearly two years, held her helpless, and hopeless of relief. But, though suffering intensely at times, and with all her young hopes blasted, not a murmur escaped her lips. Her room was the sunniest spot in all the house, lighted by the sweet face that seemed to have caught its radiance from another sphere.
To the surprise and delight of all who knew her, the touch of a healing hand restored her to perfect health, and the marriage, postponed as it seemed forever, was consummated in December last, and she has gone to a distant city, to carry the purity and loveliness that ripened here on a bed of patient suffering."
- Media
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Twice Crowned