Recollections - I Poem by Fidelia S T Hill

With many a tear, and sigh of fond regret
We left thee Thornton, in thy foreign grave,
Even where the wide, and briny waters lave
The beach of Kingston; there I linger yet
In mournful thought: nor can I e'er forget
Thee my loved boy, while faithful memory brings
Back to this sorrowing heart, a glimpse of parted things.
Twas eventide, and the declining rays,
Of tropic sun lighted both sea and shore,
Swiftly our home bound bark the breezes bore
Towards fair Port Royal, but my wistful gaze
Sought one sole object, 'twas thy resting place,
Even where the steeple points the abode of death
Deep in the silent vault, the parish Church beneath.
So death came o'er thee, as the unlooked for blight
Falls on the forward blossoms of the spring;
We deemed not the infectious clime would bring
Upon thy early dawn, so swift a night,
Chase thy soft bloom, and quench thine eyes sweet light
Ere tears had dimmed their lustre, and destroy
A widowed parent's hope, thy sister's pride and joy!
And one stood by me and beheld my grief,
Who shared thy boyish sports and loved thee well
And oft of thee, and thy wild pranks would tell:
He sought to soothe me, but my sole relief
Seemed in the thought, our parting would be brief;
How blest to meet in that Eternal day
When griefs shall be no more, and pangs have past away.