To One Departed

Seraph! thy memory is to me

Like some enchanted far-off isle

In some tumultuous sea –

Some ocean vexed as it may be

With storms; but where, meanwhile,

Serenest skies continually

Just o’er that one bright island smile.

For ‘mid the earnest cares and woes

That crowd around my earthly path,

(Sad path, alas, where grows

Not even one lonely rose!)

My soul at least a solace hath

In dreams of thee; and therein knows

An Eden of bland repose.