| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXXIV. Compensation
Sonnet: ‘They say that thou wert lovely on thy bier’ | | By William Sidney Walker (1795–1846) |
| | | THEY say that thou wert lovely on thy bier, | |
| More lovely than in life; that when the thrall | |
| Of earth was loosed, it seemed as though a pall | |
| Of years were lifted, and thou didst appear | |
| Such as of old amidst thy home’s calm sphere | 5 |
| Thou sat’st, a kindly Presence felt by all | |
| In joy or grief, from morn to evening-fall, | |
| The peaceful Genius of that mansion dear. | |
| Was it the craft of all-persuading Love | |
| That wrought this marvel? or is Death indeed | 10 |
| A mighty master, gifted from above | |
| With alchemy benign, to wounded hearts | |
| Minist’ring thus, by quaint and subtle arts, | |
| Strange comfort, whereon after-thought may feed? | | | | |
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