Poems (Ford)/Alone Forever

ALONE FOREVER.

A mother stands, with breaking heart,
And eyes that quench the light,
Upon the shore where stood her boy,
Now sailing out of sight;
The wild waves seem to mock her woe,
And say she'll see him never;
From her wrung heart bursts forth the cry:
Alone—alone forever!

A sad-faced mourner bends above
A cherished idol's grave;
Her agonizing prayers and tears
All powerless were to save;
The dull sound of each falling clod
Her heart-strings seems to sever,
And grief wrings forth the hopeless wail:
Alone—alone forever!

An orphan lays his homeless head
Upon the churchyard mold,
Where father, mother, sisters sleep,
With pulseless hearts and cold;
In this wide world the lips so loved
Shall smile upon him never,
And, clasping the cold earth, he sobs:
Alone—alone forever!

The outcast, sick of sin and woe,
Along the busy street
May look in vain, with wistful eye,
Some kindly face to meet;
Mailed in self-justice, pity-proof,
Proud Virtue spurns her ever,
And from the foot of Mercy's throne
Would hurl her down forever.

Friendship and love were idle words
In this brief, changing life,
Did they not span the gulf 'twixt heaven
And earth's stern toil and strife,
Were their bright links not knit too strong
For Fate's rude hand to sever,
Was there no land where loved ones meet
To part no more forever.

Sad soul, that o'er life's weary way
Still gropeth darkly on,
Faint not! soon on thy tear-dimmed gaze
An endless day shall dawn;
The bands of clay that bind thee here
Death's angel soon will sever,
And in the glorious world beyond
None cry—Alone forever!