Mary

What though the name is old and oft repeated,
What though a thousand beings bear it now,
And true hearts oft the gentle word have greeted —
What though 'tis hallo w'd by a poet's vow?
We ever love the rose, and yet its blooming
Is a familiar rapture to the eye;
And yon bright star we hail, although its looming
Age after age has lit the northern sky.
As starry beams o'er troubled billows stealing,
As garden odours to the desert blown,
In bosoms faint a gladsome hope revealing,
Like patriot music or affection's tone —
Thus, thus, for aye, the name of Mart spoken
By lips or text, with magic-like control,
The course of present thought has quickly broken,
And stirr'd the fountains of my inmost soul.
The sweetest tales of human weal and sorrow,
The fairest trophies of the limner's fame,
To my fond fancy, Mart, seem to borrow
Celestial halos from thy gentle name:
The Grecian artist glean'd from many faces,
And in a perfect whole the parts combined,
So have I counted o'er dear woman's graces
To form the Mart of my ardent mind.
And marvel not I thus call my idea! —
We inly paint as we would have things be —
The fanciful springs ever from the real,
As Aphrodite rose from out the sea.
Who smiled upon me kindly day by day,
In a far land where I was sad and lone?
Whose presence now is my delight away?
Both angels must the same bless'd title own.
What spirits round my weary way are flying,
What fortunes on my future life await,
Like the mysterious hymns the winds are sighing,
Are all unknown — in trust I bide my fate;
But if one blessing I might crave from Heaven,
'T would be that Mart should my being cheer,
Hang o'er me when the chord of life is riven,
Be my dear household word, and my last accent here.