The Harbinger; A May-Gift (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1833. Excerpt: ... PART I I. THE DYING SENECA. He died not as the martyr dies, Wrapped in his living shroud of flame; He fell not as the warrior falls, Gasping upon the field of fame; A gentler passage to the grave The murderer's softened fury gave. Rome's slaughtered sons and blazing piles Had tracked the purple demon's path, And yet another victim lived To fill the fiery scroll of wrath; Could not imperial vengeance spare His furrowed brow and silver hair? 32 THE DEPARTURE. The field was sown with noble blood, The harvest reaped in bitter tears, When rolling up its crimson flood Broke the long gathering tide of years; His diadem was rent away And beggars trampled on his clay. None wept--none pitied--they who knelt At morning by the despot's throne, At evening dashed the laurelled bust And spurned the wreaths themselves had strown; The shout of triumph echoed wide, The self-stung reptile writhed and died THE DEPARTURE. She turned, and sought the rock once more; She heard the distant parting hail, And sat her sadly on the shore To watch the lessening sail; It was a bitter thing to start The slumbers of the dreaming heart, To break its yet unsevered chain, And know it might not meet again. THE DEPARTURE. 33 She loved him from a very child, With all the love that children feel, When streams that deepen as they flow, From nature's fountain steal; When hopes with yet unbroken wing Rise freshest from the dews of spring, And thoughts that would alone be cold, Grow warmer in their mutual fold. Could he forget her 1 was there aught In sea or earth, in time or space? How could he find another home Amidst the stranger race? And would he look in brighter eyes Lit by the sun of southern skies, And smile to think his heart was free From her who wept beyond the sea? She did not ask to h...