This is a poem written by my great-grandfather mourning the loss of his wife, my great grandmother. I wish I had listened more to the stories Grandma told me about her parents.
Lamentation for My Dear Wife who Died September 29, 1935
The summer sun will shine again
As brightly as of yore
The west wind blow a soft refrain
The waves caress the shore
The featured choir will trill sweet song
Bright flowers will greet the sight
The moon will rise mid starry throng
To mount the throne of night
But Not for me will nature smile
Nor birds their carols raise
No more can summer skies beguile
Nor flowers enchant my gaze
The moon may still her radiance shed
Just as on nights of yore
But what wails when hope is dead
And my Dear wife I’ll see no more.
Though quenchless fires will inward burn
To a high degree I know
Yea though I see all life’s glory turn
To dust and ashes now
But I’ll strive to pay this utmost price
Though bankrupt is my soul
And climb Cochrane Hill of sacrifice
Where duty points the goal…
Fond are the ties that are broken
And the rose that is faded and gone
But in silence this Dear rose is budding
And will bloom forth in heaven again
So shall it ever be in the bright morning
When hearts awakening see the shadows flee
Oh in that hour and fairer than dawning
My glorious thought – she is with thee.
