"Mid Shadows" by Eliza M. Hickok (19th Century Poet)

As I sat in lonely musing,
Solitude and silence choosing,
Shadows, coming on apace,
Gathered me in their embrace;
Shadows, gathering all around me,
With their strange, weird power bound me;
Shadows, passing swiftly on,
Seemed in sombre shapes to form,
Till in fancy I beheld
Loved ones I had known so well.
Then, on life I sadly pondered,
And my mind far backward wandered,
While these silent shadows, creeping,
Over me their watch were keeping.
Like a vivid panarama,
One by one there passed before me
Forms familiar, once loved faces,
Bringing scenes of distant places.
One I saw, --a noble youth,--
On his brow the seal of truth.
He went out to fight for freedom,
When the cry for help first reached him.
Like a patriot, strong and brave,
All for the just cause he gave,--
Loyal heart, so firm and true,
Even life -- he gave that, too.
Then, a maiden passing on,
Just a glimpse, and she was gone.
Well I knew her, --lovely, smiling,
Weary hours with song beguiling.
Just when life was opening bright,
She went out from mortal sight.
Still another, pale and sad:
Once I knew her happy, glad:
Base desertion, cruel scorning,
Broke her young heart in life's morning.
All life's joys were at an end:
Rest was sweet, and death a friend.
Faded flowers decked her bed,
Like her own hopes, crushed and dead.
Then, of shadows, still another,
One we cherished like a brother;
Strong and happy, fond of life,
Ready for its toil and strife;
Stricken down, alas! how soon!
Ere his sun had reached its noon.
Hard to give a form so brave
To the cold and lonely grave!
Hard, a face so glad and bright
No more blessed our mortal sight!
We would fain have kept him longer,
But the stern decree was stronger.
Sad I felt, yet glad to meet them;
For I know that I shall greet them,
Some day, when I leave the mortal,
And pass calmly through Death's portal.