Felicia Dorothea Hemans

The Vassal’s Lament for the Fallen Tree

  YES! I have seen the ancient oak
    On the dark deep water cast,
  And it was not felled by the woodman’s stroke,
    Or the rush of the sweeping blast;
For the axe might never touch that tree,
And the air was still as a summer sea.

  I saw it fall, as falls a chief
    By an arrow in the fight,
  And the old woods shook, to their loftiest leaf,
    At the crashing of its might;
And the startled deer to their coverts drew,
And the spray of the lake as a fountain’s flew!

  ’T is fallen! But think thou not I weep
    For the forest’s pride o’erthrown,—	
  An old man’s tears lie far too deep
    To be poured for this alone:
But by that sign too well I know
That a youthful head must soon be low!

  A youthful head, with its shining hair,
    And its bright quick-flashing eye;
  Well may I weep! for the boy is fair,
    Too fair a thing to die!
But on his brow the mark is set,—
O, could my life redeem him yet!

  He bounded by me as I gazed
    Alone on the fatal sign,
  And it seemed like sunshine when he raised
    His joyous glance to mine.
With a stag’s fleet step he bounded by,
So full of life,—but he must die!

  He must, he must! in that deep dell,
    By that dark water’s side,
  ’T is known that ne’er a proud tree fell
    But an heir of his fathers died.
And he,—there ’s laughter in his eye,
Joy in his voice,—yet he must die!

  I ’ve borne him in these arms, that now
    Are nerveless and unstrung;
  And must I see, on that fair brow,
    The dust untimely flung?
I must!—yon green oak, branch and crest,
Lies floating on the dark lake’s breast!

  The noble boy!—how proudly sprung
    The falcon from his hand!
  It seemed like youth to see him young,
    A flower in his father’s land!
But the hour of the knell and the dirge is nigh,
For the tree hath fallen, and the flower must die.

  Say not ’t is vain! I tell thee, some
    Are warned by a meteor’s light,
  Or a pale bird, flitting, calls them home,
    Or a voice on the winds by night;
And they must go! And he too, he!
Woe for the fall of the glorious tree!