Thomas Wells. At Musing Hour. Samuel Kettell, ed. 1829. Specimens of American Poetry

Verse > Anthologies > Samuel Kettell, ed. > Specimens of American Poetry

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.

At Musing Hour

By Thomas Wells


AT 1 musing hour of twilight gray,
When silence reigns around,
I love to walk the churchyard way,
To me ’t is holy ground.

To me, congenial is the place	5
Where yew and cypress grow;
I love the moss-grown stone to trace,
That tells who lies below.

And, as the lonely spot I pass
Where weary ones repose,	10
I think, like them, how soon alas!
My pilgrimage will close.

Like them, I think, when I am gone,
And soundly sleep as they,
Alike unnoticed, and unknown,	15
Shall pass my name away.

Yet ah! and let me lightly tread!
She sleeps beneath this stone
That would have soothed my dying bed,
And wept for me when gone!	20

Her image—’t is to memory dear—
That clings around my heart,
And makes me fondly linger here,
Unwilling to depart.

Note 1. Wells is a native of Boston, and is at present an officer of the United States Revenue. He has been for some time known to the public as the author of several prize compositions. In these, and most of his fugitive pieces, he appears to have selected the poets of the last century for his models. In the Vision, however, he has struck into a new path with perfect success. [back]

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.

Shakespeare · Bible · Saints · Anatomy · Harvard Classics · Lit. History · Quotations · Poetry