To Laura In Death

Methinks from hour to hour her voice I hear:

My Lady calls me! I would fain obey;

Within, without, I feel myself decay;

And am so alter'd--not with many a year--

That to myself a stranger I appear;

All my old usual life is put away--

Could I but know how long I have to stay!

Grant, Heaven, the long-wish'd summons may be near!

Oh, blest the day when from this earthly gaol

I shall be freed, when burst and broken lies

This mortal guise, so heavy yet so frail,

When from this black night my saved spirit flies,

Soaring up, up, above the bright serene,

Where with my Lord my Lady shall be seen.