The Suicide.

What anguish rankled 'neath that silent breast?
    What spectral figures mocked those staring eyes,
    Luring them on to Stygian mysteries?
What overpowering sense of grief distressed?

What desperation nerved that rigid hand
    To pull the trigger with such deadly aim?
    What deep remorse, or terror, overcame
The dread inherent, of death's shadowy strand?

Perhaps the hand of unrelenting fate
    Fell with such tragic pressure, that the mind
    In frenzy, uncontrollable and blind,
Sought but the darkness, black and desolate.

Perhaps 'twas some misfortune's stunning blight,
    Perhaps unmerited, though deep disgrace,
    Or vision of a wronged accusing face
Pictured indelibly before the sight.

Perhaps the gnawing of some secret sin,
    Some aberration fraught with morbid gloom,
    A buried hope which ever burst its tomb,
Despondency, disaster, or chagrin.

That heart which throbbed in pain and discontent
    Is silent as the grave for which it yearned;
    That brain, which once with proud ambition burned,
Now oozes through the bullet's ghastly rent.

Those eyes, transfixed with such a gruesome stare,
    Once beamed with laughter, innocent and bright;
    The morning gave no presage of the night;
A smile may be the prelude of despair.

Whate'er his secret, it remains untold,
    For why to human anguish add one groan?
    Is grief the deeper grief because unknown?
So let the grave his form and burden hold.

Ye who have felt no crushing weight of care,
    From blame profuse, in charity refrain;
    Some depths of sorrow overwhelm the brain,
Some loads too great for human strength to bear.