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21. To Mollie
20 April 1856
20 April 1856
This utterly conventional poem is addressed to Clemens' sister-in-law, Mary Eleanor (Mollie) Stotts Clemens, who had married his brother Orion on 19 December 1854. The text is preserved in the author's holograph in Mollie's memory book, now owned by Dorris B. Schmidt of Lincoln, Nebraska.
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Bursting into life and light,—
The morning sun is kindly beaming,
And lingering Winter takes his flight.
Long absent Spring, to Earth returning,
Is welcomed by the bowing trees,
While soaring birds, the forest spurning,
Are greeting her with songs of praise.
Green is the earth, and cloudless is the sky—
Peace reigns within the hearts of men;
Clouds and Winter, vanquished, fly—
Oh, may they ne'er return again!
Years of sorrow and trouble will over you pass,
And the ties of your Earth-home be riven,
But your Winter of Woe will give place at the last,
To a Spring everlasting in Heaven!
To Mollie
All the earth with buds is teeming,—Bursting into life and light,—
The morning sun is kindly beaming,
And lingering Winter takes his flight.
Long absent Spring, to Earth returning,
Is welcomed by the bowing trees,
While soaring birds, the forest spurning,
Are greeting her with songs of praise.
Green is the earth, and cloudless is the sky—
Peace reigns within the hearts of men;
Clouds and Winter, vanquished, fly—
Oh, may they ne'er return again!
Years of sorrow and trouble will over you pass,
And the ties of your Earth-home be riven,
But your Winter of Woe will give place at the last,
To a Spring everlasting in Heaven!
S.C.
Keokuk, April 20th, 1856.
The manuscript of this poem survives in the memory book of Mary Eleanor Stotts Clemens, which is owned by Dorris B. Schmidt, Lincoln, Nebraska. It is copy-text. Copy: PH from owner. There are no textual notes, emendations, or alterations in the manuscript.