Poems (Waldenburg)/Judge R. W. Peckham

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IN MEMORIAM. 

Lost on the Ville du Havre, November 22d, 1873, Judge Rufus W. and Mary E. Peckham of Albany, N. Y.

Of thee we ask the loved and lost, O Sea!Give back their forms, 'tis all of thee we crave;Keep all thy wealth of fleet and argosy,Yield thou our dead, though only for a grave!
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A grave where grass may grow above the sleepers,And violets bloom above the treasured sod,Where mourning, yet consoled, may come the weepersAnd from their dust look up to Heaven and God!
Vainly we ask. With ceaseless monotoneThe waves dash on! In ocean's halls must lieBeloved forms untended and aloneTill the last day breaks to eternity.
Rest honored name, unstained integrity,Rest gentle woman's form beloved by all;Within our hearts shall ye remembered beThough o'er thy graves our tears may never fall.
God's holy church with comfort in her speechReveres thy memory and mourns thy loss;And o'er thy ocean graves adown shall reachThe golden shadow of her holy cross!
Dear Lord, these cherished forms we mourn as deadIn thy sweet mercy trusting, still we seeFrom the unfathomed space of ocean ledUp through thy sea gate, to eternity!
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