Hannah Flagg Gould

1789-1865

 

The Leaf

by Hannah Flagg Gould

A leaf! a leaf! it has been torn
From out a volume full and fair.
'T is to a joyful reader borne
By a mild courier through the air.

The author of the book has writ
His shining name upon the leaf;
And blessed import comes in it,
Although the lines are few and brief.

It says, the flood retires! The heads
Of the lost hills again are seen --
That, on their sides the olive spreads
Her fruitful branches fresh and green! --

That He, who has so late revealed
The awful power that arms his hand,
The fountains of the deep has sealed,
And swept the waters from the land!

Thou man of God! while death has reigned
Without the ark, till every soul
Is hurried hence, thy faith retained,
Thy steady trust has kept thee whole.

When God stretched forth his mighty arm
In terrors clothed to impious men,
It shielded thee and thine from harm.
Go forth! Jehovah smiles again

Look up! the heavens are clear and bright
With splendor never seen before.
Behold your Lord his promise write,
That he will drown the world no more!

For this, the richest, purest dies
That shine in heaven, he softly blends,
And, like himself, from out the skies,
His bow for man in glory bends.

The humbled earth, baptized, appears
Washed by the flood from strife and sin.
Beauty and joy shall follow tears,
And life and praise where death has been.

The Leaf is one from Nature's book,
Which, with a tender father's love,
Its holy Author wisely took
To send thee by the peaceful dove!

Source:

Poems By Miss H. F. Gould. Volume 2.
Copyright 1836
Hilliard, Gray, & Co., Boston