At Zöe’s Grave

                         1.
The thought of our risen Darling
     This day of her mortal birth
Comes over me tenderly beaming
     As dawn o’er the wakening earth.
I stand in the morning sunlight,
     My shadow across her grave;
The mists of the golden day-spring
     Roll over the azure wave,
To mimic the sun-touched tresses
     That around her forehead curled
O’er the eyes of blue, oh, tender & true;
     That gladdened our sombre world.

                         2.
The flowers I lay at her headstone
     With the dew of the morning fresh,
Are symbols meet for a soul so sweet,
     And the bloom of her virgin flesh.
AS they wither & fade, & mingle
     With the dust that covers her dust
I follow their breath exhaled in death —
To the land of her beautiful trust.

                         3.
I see her a star-crowned Angel
     In her everlasting youth,
Yet a Woman still who drinks her fill
     At the wells of love & truth;
Growing ever in grace & wisdom,
     With her pure, unruffled frow
And the laughing eyes that down the skies
     Shed the child’s joy even now.

                         4.
If she look from her honor celestial
     To her earthly home she’ll know
How our memory clings to the slightest things
     In her glad life here below
The voice of her happy greetings
     The tread of her buoyant feet.
The cheer of her casual presence,
     Still come to my lone retreat.

                         5.
And my heart leaps up to bless her
     Though filled with ineffable bliss,
And my loving thoughts caress her
     Whom the purest Angels kiss.
The name of our Darling Zöe
     In the home she hath cheered, shall live
While the red veins flow, & the fair flowers blow,
     And her Poet hath songs to give!