“On the earth, in the shimmerOf shining sunbeamsWhich in golden light gleamsPaint the colours that glimmer,How often, my child,In those halcyon daysHast thou lain, and smiled,Kissing the rays.Didst draw them to theeWith thy fingers in sport,Or came they unsoughtThy playmates to be?I ne’er could divine,But methinks at thy birthThou wast sent on a sunbeamTo me and the earth.”
“On the earth, in the shimmerOf shining sunbeamsWhich in golden light gleamsPaint the colours that glimmer,How often, my child,In those halcyon daysHast thou lain, and smiled,Kissing the rays.Didst draw them to theeWith thy fingers in sport,Or came they unsoughtThy playmates to be?I ne’er could divine,But methinks at thy birthThou wast sent on a sunbeamTo me and the earth.”
“On the earth, in the shimmerOf shining sunbeamsWhich in golden light gleamsPaint the colours that glimmer,How often, my child,In those halcyon daysHast thou lain, and smiled,Kissing the rays.
Didst draw them to theeWith thy fingers in sport,Or came they unsoughtThy playmates to be?I ne’er could divine,But methinks at thy birthThou wast sent on a sunbeamTo me and the earth.”
And now the sunbeams have kissed the lovely child and taken her away with them. It seems as if all earthly hopes and all earthly joy had been buried with her. A deep sorrow and an unutterable longing stole into the heart of the Princess, which only a mother can really understand, and which can only end with life. On the 25th of April the following poem was found in theJournal—
LONGING.
“I long to feel thy little arm’s embrace,Thy little silver-sounding voice to hear,I long for thy warm kisses on my face,And for thy bird-like carol, blithe and clear.I long for every childish, loving word,And for thy little footsteps, fairy light,That hither, thither moved and ever stirredMy heart with them to gladness infinite.And for thy hair I long—that halo blestHanging in golden glory round thy brow.My child, can aught such longing lull to rest?Nay, heaven’s bliss alone can end it now!”
“I long to feel thy little arm’s embrace,Thy little silver-sounding voice to hear,I long for thy warm kisses on my face,And for thy bird-like carol, blithe and clear.I long for every childish, loving word,And for thy little footsteps, fairy light,That hither, thither moved and ever stirredMy heart with them to gladness infinite.And for thy hair I long—that halo blestHanging in golden glory round thy brow.My child, can aught such longing lull to rest?Nay, heaven’s bliss alone can end it now!”
“I long to feel thy little arm’s embrace,Thy little silver-sounding voice to hear,I long for thy warm kisses on my face,And for thy bird-like carol, blithe and clear.
I long for every childish, loving word,And for thy little footsteps, fairy light,That hither, thither moved and ever stirredMy heart with them to gladness infinite.
And for thy hair I long—that halo blestHanging in golden glory round thy brow.My child, can aught such longing lull to rest?Nay, heaven’s bliss alone can end it now!”