MRS. CORDENIO A. SEVERANCE
Reading edition
"Then a darker, drearier vision
Passed before me vague and cloudlike;
I beheld our nation scattered,
All forgetful of my council,
Weakened, warring with each other:
Saw the remnant of our people
Sweeping westward, wild and woful,
Like the cloud rack of a tempest,
Like the withered leaves of Autumn!"