[ { "title": "I Have A Rendezvous With Death", "author": "Alan Seeger", "lines": [ "I have a rendezvous with Death", "At some disputed barricade,", "When Spring comes back with rustling shade", "And apple-blossoms fill the air—", "I have a rendezvous with Death", "When Spring brings back blue days and fair.", "", "It may be he shall take my hand", "And lead me into his dark land", "And close my eyes and quench my breath—", "It may be I shall pass him still.", "I have a rendezvous with Death", "On some scarred slope of battered hill", "When Spring comes round again this year", "And the first meadow-flowers appear.", "", "God knows 'twere better to be deep", "Pillowed in silk and scented down,", "Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,", "Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,", "Where hushed awakenings are dear...", "But I've a rendezvous with Death", "At midnight in some flaming town,", "When Spring trips north again this year,", "And I to my pledged word am true,", "I shall not fail that rendezvous." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "On the Death of Robert Browning", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "He held no dream worth waking; so he said,", "He who stands now on death's triumphal steep,", "Awakened out of life wherein we sleep", "And dream of what he knows and sees, being dead.", "But never death for him was dark or dread;", "\"Look forth,\" he bade the soul, and fear not. Weep,", "All ye that trust not in his truth, and keep", "Vain memory's vision of a vanished head", "As all that lives of all that once was he", "Save that which lightens from his word; but we,", "Who, seeing the sunset-colored waters roll,", "Yet know the sun subdued not of the sea,", "Nor weep nor doubt that still the spirit is whole,", "And life and death but shadows of the soul." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "A Ballad of Death", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Kneel down, fair Love, and fill thyself with tears,", "Girdle thyself with sighing for a girth", "Upon the sides of mirth,", "Cover thy lips and eyelids, let thine ears", "Be filled with rumour of people sorrowing;", "Make thee soft raiment out of woven sighs", "Upon the flesh to cleave,", "Set pains therein and many a grievous thing,", "And many sorrows after each his wise", "For armlet and for gorget and for sleeve.", "", "O Love's lute heard about the lands of death,", "Left hanged upon the trees that were therein;", "O Love and Time and Sin,", "Three singing mouths that mourn now underbreath,", "Three lovers, each one evil spoken of;", "O smitten lips wherethrough this voice of mine", "Came softer with her praise;", "Abide a little for our lady's love.", "The kisses of her mouth were more than wine,", "And more than peace the passage of her days.", "", "O Love, thou knowest if she were good to see.", "O Time, thou shalt not find in any land", "Till, cast out of thine hand,", "The sunlight and the moonlight fail from thee,", "Another woman fashioned like as this.", "O Sin, thou knowest that all thy shame in her", "Was made a goodly thing;", "Yea, she caught Shame and shamed him with her kiss,", "With her fair kiss, and lips much lovelier", "Than lips of amorous roses in late spring.", "", "By night there stood over against my bed", "Queen Venus with a hood striped gold and black,", "Both sides drawn fully back", "From brows wherein the sad blood failed of red,", "And temples drained of purple and full of death.", "Her curled hair had the wave of sea-water", "And the sea's gold in it.", "Her eyes were as a dove's that sickeneth.", "Strewn dust of gold she had shed over her,", "And pearl and purple and amber on her feet.", "", "Upon her raiment of dyed sendaline", "Were painted all the secret ways of love", "And covered things thereof,", "That hold delight as grape-flowers hold their wine;", "Red mouths of maidens and red feet of doves,", "And brides that kept within the bride-chamber", "Their garment of soft shame,", "And weeping faces of the wearied loves", "That swoon in sleep and awake wearier,", "With heat of lips and hair shed out like flame.", "", "The tears that through her eyelids fell on me", "Made mine own bitter where they ran between", "As blood had fallen therein,", "She saying; Arise, lift up thine eyes and see", "If any glad thing be or any good", "Now the best thing is taken forth of us;", "Even she to whom all praise", "Was as one flower in a great multitude,", "One glorious flower of many and glorious,", "One day found gracious among many days:", "", "Even she whose handmaiden was Love--to whom", "At kissing times across her stateliest bed", "Kings bowed themselves and shed", "Pale wine, and honey with the honeycomb,", "And spikenard bruised for a burnt-offering;", "Even she between whose lips the kiss became", "As fire and frankincense;", "Whose hair was as gold raiment on a king,", "Whose eyes were as the morning purged with flame,", "Whose eyelids as sweet savour issuing thence.", "", "Then I beheld, and lo on the other side", "My lady's likeness crowned and robed and dead.", "Sweet still, but now not red,", "Was the shut mouth whereby men lived and died.", "And sweet, but emptied of the blood's blue shade,", "The great curled eyelids that withheld her eyes.", "And sweet, but like spoilt gold,", "The weight of colour in her tresses weighed.", "And sweet, but as a vesture with new dyes,", "The body that was clothed with love of old.", "", "Ah! that my tears filled all her woven hair", "And all the hollow bosom of her gown--", "Ah! that my tears ran down", "Even to the place where many kisses were,", "Even where her parted breast-flowers have place,", "Even where they are cloven apart--who knows not this?", "Ah! the flowers cleave apart", "And their sweet fills the tender interspace;", "Ah! the leaves grown thereof were things to kiss", "Ere their fine gold was tarnished at the heart.", "", "Ah! in the days when God did good to me,", "Each part about her was a righteous thing;", "Her mouth an almsgiving,", "The glory of her garments charity,", "The beauty of her bosom a good deed,", "In the good days when God kept sight of us;", "Love lay upon her eyes,", "And on that hair whereof the world takes heed;", "And all her body was more virtuous", "Than souls of women fashioned otherwise.", "", "Now, ballad, gather poppies in thine hands", "And sheaves of brier and many rusted sheaves", "Rain-rotten in rank lands,", "Waste marigold and late unhappy leaves", "And grass that fades ere any of it be mown;", "And when thy bosom is filled full thereof", "Seek out Death's face ere the light altereth,", "And say \"My master that was thrall to Love", "Is become thrall to Death.\"", "Bow down before him, ballad, sigh and groan.", "But make no sojourn in thy outgoing;", "For haply it may be", "That when thy feet return at evening", "Death shall come in with thee." ], "linecount": "114" }, { "title": "The Death Of Richard Wagner", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Mourning on earth, as when dark hours descend,", "Wide-winged with plagues, from heaven; when hope and mirth", "Wane, and no lips rebuke or reprehend", "Mourning on earth.", "", "The soul wherein her songs of death and birth,", "Darkness and light, were wont to sound and blend,", "Now silent, leaves the whole world less in worth.", "", "Winds that make moan and triumph, skies that bend,", "Thunders, and sound of tides in gulf and firth,", "Spake through his spirit of speech, whose death should send", "Mourning on earth.", "", "", "", "The world's great heart, whence all things strange and rare", "Take form and sound, that each inseparate part", "May bear its burden in all tuned thoughts that share", "The world's great heart -", "", "The fountain forces, whence like steeds that start", "Leap forth the powers of earth and fire and air,", "Seas that revolve and rivers that depart -", "", "Spake, and were turned to song: yea, all they were,", "With all their works, found in his mastering art", "Speech as of powers whose uttered word laid bare", "The world's great heart.", "", "", "", "From the depths of the sea, from the wellsprings of earth, from the wastes of the midmost night,", "From the fountains of darkness and tempest and thunder, from heights where the soul would be,", "The spell of the mage of music evoked their sense, as an unknown light", "From the depths of the sea.", "", "As a vision of heaven from the hollows of ocean, that none but a god might see,", "Rose out of the silence of things unknown of a presence, a form, a might,", "And we heard as a prophet that hears God's message against him, and may not flee.", "", "Eye might not endure it, but ear and heart with a rapture of dark delight,", "With a terror and wonder whose core was joy, and a passion of thought set free,", "Felt inly the rising of doom divine as a sundawn risen to sight", "From the depths of the sea." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "A Baby's Death", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "A little soul scarce fledged for earth", "Takes wing with heaven again for goal", "Even while we hailed as fresh from birth", "A little soul.", "", "Our thoughts ring sad as bells that toll,", "Not knowing beyond this blind world's girth", "What things are writ in heaven's full scroll.", "", "Our fruitfulness is there but dearth,", "And all things held in time's control", "Seem there, perchance, ill dreams, not worth", "A little soul.", "", "", "", "The little feet that never trod", "Earth, never strayed in field or street,", "What hand leads upward back to God", "The little feet?", "", "A rose in June's most honied heat,", "When life makes keen the kindling sod,", "Was not so soft and warm and sweet.", "", "Their pilgrimage's period", "A few swift moons have seen complete", "Since mother's hands first clasped and shod", "The little feet.", "", "", "", "The little hands that never sought", "Earth's prizes, worthless all as sands,", "What gift has death, God's servant, brought", "The little hands?", "", "We ask: but love's self silent stands,", "Love, that lends eyes and wings to thought", "To search where death's dim heaven expands.", "", "Ere this, perchance, though love know nought,", "Flowers fill them, grown in lovelier lands,", "Where hands of guiding angels caught", "The little hands.", "", "", "", "The little eyes that never knew", "Light other than of dawning skies,", "What new life now lights up anew", "The little eyes?", "", "Who knows but on their sleep may rise", "Such light as never heaven let through", "To lighten earth from Paradise?", "", "No storm, we know, may change the blue", "Soft heaven that haply death descries", "No tears, like these in ours, bedew", "The little eyes.", "", "", "", "Was life so strange, so sad the sky,", "So strait the wide world's range,", "He would not stay to wonder why", "Was life so strange?", "", "Was earth's fair house a joyless grange", "Beside that house on high", "Whence Time that bore him failed to estrange?", "", "That here at once his soul put by", "All gifts of time and change,", "And left us heavier hearts to sigh", "'Was life so strange?'", "", "", "", "Angel by name love called him, seeing so fair", "The sweet small frame;", "Meet to be called, if ever man's child were,", "Angel by name.", "", "Rose-bright and warm from heaven's own heart he came,", "And might not bear", "The cloud that covers earth's wan face with shame.", "", "His little light of life was all too rare", "And soft a flame:", "Heaven yearned for him till angels hailed him there", "Angel by name.", "", "", "", "The song that smiled upon his birthday here", "Weeps on the grave that holds him undefiled", "Whose loss makes bitterer than a soundless tear", "The song that smiled.", "", "His name crowned once the mightiest ever styled", "Sovereign of arts, and angel: fate and fear", "Knew then their master, and were reconciled.", "", "But we saw born beneath some tenderer sphere", "Michael, an angel and a little child,", "Whose loss bows down to weep upon his bier", "The song that smiled." ], "linecount": "77" }, { "title": "Birth And Death", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Birth and death, twin-sister and twin-brother,", "Night and day, on all things that draw breath,", "Reign, while time keeps friends with one another", "Birth and death.", "", "Each brow-bound with flowers diverse of wreath,", "Heaven they hail as father, earth as mother,", "Faithful found above them and beneath.", "", "Smiles may lighten tears, and tears may smother", "Smiles, for all that joy or sorrow saith:", "Joy nor sorrow knows not from each other", "Birth and death." ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "Death And Birth", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Death and birth should dwell not near together:", "Wealth keeps house not, even for shame, with dearth:", "Fate doth ill to link in one brief tether", "Death and birth.", "", "Harsh the yoke that binds them, strange the girth", "Seems that girds them each with each: yet whether", "Death be best, who knows, or life on earth?", "", "Ill the rose-red and the sable feather", "Blend in one crown's plume, as grief with mirth:", "Ill met still are warm and wintry weather,", "Death and birth." ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "A Poem Upon The Death Of O.C.", "author": "Andrew Marvell", "lines": [ "That Providence which had so long the care", "Of Cromwell's head, and numbred ev'ry hair,", "Now in its self (the Glass where all appears)", "Had seen the period of his golden Years:", "And thenceforth onely did attend to trace,", "What death might least so sair a Life deface.", "The People, which what most they fear esteem,", "Death when more horrid so more noble deem;", "And blame the last Act, like Spectators vain,", "Unless the Prince whom they applaud be slain.", "Nor Fate indeed can well refuse that right", "To those that liv'd in War, to dye in Fight.", "But long his Valour none had left that could", "Indanger him, or Clemency that would.", "And he whom Nature all for Peace had made,", "But angry Heaven unto War had sway'd,", "And so less useful where he most desir'd,", "For what he least affected was admir'd,", "Deserved yet an End whose ev'ry part", "Should speak the wondrous softness of his Heart.", "To Love and Grief the fatal Writ was sign'd;", "(Those nobler weaknesses of humane Mind,", "From which those Powers that issu'd the Decree,", "Although immortal, found they were not free.)", "That they, to whom his Breast still open lyes,", "In gentle Passions should his Death disguise:", "And leave succeeding Ages cause to mourn,", "As long as Grief shall weep, or Love shall burn.", "Streight does a slow and languishing Disease", "Eliza, Natures and his darling, seize.", "Her when an infant, taken with her Charms,", "He oft would flourish in his mighty Arms;", "And, lest their force the tender burthen wrong,", "Slacken the vigour of his Muscles strong;", "Then to the Mothers brest her softly move,", "Which while she drain'd of Milk she fill'd with Love:", "But as with riper Years her Virtue grew,", "And ev'ry minute adds a Lustre new;", "When with meridian height her Beauty shin'd,", "And thorough that sparkled her fairer Mind;", "When She with Smiles serene and Words discreet", "His hidden Soul at ev'ry turn could meet;", "Then might y' ha' daily his Affection spy'd,", "Doubling that knot which Destiny had ty'd:", "While they by sence, not knowing, comprehend", "How on each other both their Fates depend.", "With her each day the pleasing Hours he shares,", "And at her Aspect calms her growing Cares;", "Or with a Grandsire's joy her Children sees", "Hanging about her neck or at his knees.", "Hold fast dear Infants, hold them both or none;", "This will not stay when once the other's gone.", "A silent fire now wasts those Limbs of Wax,", "And him with his tortur'd Image racks.", "So the Flowr with'ring which the Garden crown'd,", "The sad Root pines in secret under ground.", "Each Groan he doubled and each Sigh he sigh'd,", "Repeated over to the restless Night.", "No trembling String compos'd to numbers new,", "Answers the touch in Notes more sad more true.", "She lest He grieve hides what She can her pains,", "And He to lessen hers his Sorrow feigns:", "Yet both perceiv'd, yet both conceal'd their Skills,", "And so diminishing increast their ills:", "That whether by each others grief they fell,", "Or on their own redoubled, none can tell.", "And now Eliza's purple Locks were shorn,", "Where she so long her Fathers fate had worn:", "And frequent lightning to her Soul that flyes,", "Devides the Air, and opens all the Skyes:", "And now his Life, suspended by her breath,", "Ran out impetuously to hasting Death.", "Like polish'd Mirrours, so his steely Brest", "Had ev'ry figure of her woes exprest;", "And with the damp of her last Gasps obscur'd,", "Had drawn such staines as were not to be cur'd.", "Fate could not either reach with single stroke,", "But the dear Image fled the Mirrour broke.", "Who now shall tell us more of mournful Swans,", "Of Halcyons kind, or bleeding Pelicans?", "No downy breast did ere so gently beat,", "Or fan with airy plumes so soft an heat.", "For he no duty by his height excus'd,", "Nor though a Prince to be a Man refus'd:", "But rather then in his Eliza's pain", "Not love, not grieve, would neither live nor reign.", "And in himself so oft immortal try'd,", "Yet in compassion of another dy'd.", "So have I seen a Vine, whose lasting Age", "Of many a Winter hath surviv'd the rage.", "Under whose shady tent Men ev'ry year", "At its rich bloods expence their Sorrows chear,", "If some dear branch where it extends its life", "Chance to be prun'd by an untimely knife,", "The Parent-Tree unto the Grief succeeds,", "And through the Wound its vital humour bleeds;", "Trickling in watry drops, whose flowing shape", "Weeps that it falls ere fix'd into a Grape.", "So the dry Stock, no more that spreading Vine,", "Frustrates the Autumn and the hopes of Wine.", "A secret Cause does sure those Signs ordain", "Fore boding Princes falls, and seldom vain.", "Whether some Kinder Pow'rs, that wish us well,", "What they above cannot prevent, foretell;", "Or the great World do by consent presage,", "As hollow Seas with future Tempests rage:", "Or rather Heav'n, which us so long fore sees,", "Their fun'rals celebrate while it decrees.", "But never yet was any humane Fate", "By nature solemniz'd with so much state.", "He unconcern'd the dreadful passage crost;", "But oh what pangs that Death did Nature cost!", "First the great Thunder was shot off, and sent", "The Signal from the starry Battlement.", "The Winds receive it, and its force out-do,", "As practising how they could thunder too:", "Out of the Binders Hand the Sheaves they tore,", "And thrash'd the Harvest in the airy floore;", "Or of huge Trees, whose growth with his did rise,", "The deep foundations open'd to the Skyes.", "Then heavy Showres the winged Tempests dead,", "And pour the Deluge ore the Chaos head.", "The Race of warlike Horses at his Tomb", "Offer themselves in many an Hecatomb;", "With pensive head towards the ground they fall,", "And helpless languish at the tainted Stall.", "Numbers of Men decrease with pains unknown,", "And hasten not to see his Death their own.", "Such Tortures all the Elements unfix'd,", "Troubled to part where so exactly mix'd.", "And as through Air his wasting Spirits flow'd,", "The Universe labour'd beneath their load.", "Nature it seem'd with him would Nature vye;", "He with Eliza, It with him would dye.", "He without noise still travell'd to his End,", "As silent Suns to meet the Night descend.", "The Stars that for him fought had only pow'r", "Left to determine now his fatal Hour,", "Which, since they might not hinder, yet they cast", "To chuse it worthy of his Glories past.", "No part of time but bore his mark away", "Of honour; all the Year was Cromwell's day", "But this, of all the most auspicious found,", "Twice had in open field him Victor crown'd", "When up the armed Mountains of Dunbar", "He march'd, and through deep Severn ending war.", "What day should him eternize but the same", "That had before immortaliz'd his Name?", "That so who ere would at his Death have joy'd,", "In their own Griefs might find themselves imploy'd;", "But those that sadly his departure griev'd,", "Yet joy'd remembring what he once atcheiv'd.", "And the last minute his victorious Ghost", "Gave chase to Ligny on the Belgick Coast.", "Here ended all his mortal toyles: He lay'd", "And slept in Peace under the Lawrel Shade.", "O Cromwell, Heavens Favourite! To none", "Have such high honours from above been shown:", "For whom the Elements we Mourners see,", "And Heav'n it self would the great Herald be;", "Which with more Care set forth his Obsequies", "Then those of Moses hid from humane Eyes;", "As jealous only here lest all be less,", "That we could to his Memory express.", "Then let us to our course of Mourning keep:", "Where Heaven leads, 'tis Piety to weep.", "Stand back ye Seas, and shrunk beneath the vail", "Of your Abysse, with cover'd Head bewail", "Your Monarch: We demand not your supplies", "To compass in our Isle; our Tears suffice;", "Since him away the dismal Tempest rent,", "Who once more joyn'd us to the Continent;", "Who planted England on the Flandrick shoar,", "And stretch'd our frontire to the Indian Ore;", "Whose greater Truths obscure the Fables old,", "Whether of British Saints or Worthy's told;", "And in a valour less'ning Arthur's deeds,", "For Holyness the Confessor exceeds.", "He first put Armes into Religions hand,", "And tim'rous Conscience unto Courage man'd:", "The Souldier taught that inward Mail to wear,", "And fearing God how they should nothing fear.", "Those Strokes he said will pierce through all below", "Where those that strike from Heaven fetch their Blow.", "", "Note: The remainder is supplied from Ms Eng.poet.d.49", "Astonish'd armyes did their flight prepare:", "And Cityes strong were stormed by his prayer.", "Of that for ever Prestons field shall tell", "The Story, and impregnable Clonmell.", "And where the sandy mountain Fenwick scald", "The Sea between yet henee his pray'r prevail'd.", "What man was ever so in Heav'n obey'd", "Since the commanded Sun ore Gibeon stayd.", "In all his warrs needs must he triumph, when", "He conquer'd God still ere he fought with men.", "Hence though in battle none so brave or fierce", "Yet him the adverse steel could never pierce:", "Pitty it seem'd to hurt him more that felt", "Each wound himself which he to others delt,", "Danger it self refusing to offend", "So loose an enemy so fast a freind.", "Friendship that sacred versue long das claime", "The first foundation of his house and name.", "But within one its narrow limitts fall", "His tendernesse extended unto all:", "And that deep soule through every chanell flows", "Where kindly nature loves it self to lose.", "More strong affections never reason serv'd", "Yet still affected most what best deservd.", "If he Eliza lov'd to that degree", "(Though who more worstly to be lov'd then she)", "If so indulgent to his own, how deare", "To him the children of the Highest were?", "For her he once did natures tribute pay:", "For these his life adventur'd every day.", "And it would be found could we his thoughts have", "Their griefs struck deepest if Eliza's last.", "What prudence more then humane did he need", "To keep so deare, so diff'ring mindes agreed?", "The worser sort as conscious of their ill,", "Lye weak and easy to the rulers will:", "But to the good (too many or too few).", "All law is uselesse all reward is due.", "Oh ill advis'd if not for love for shame.", "Spare yet your own if you neglect his fame.", "Least others dare to think your reale a maske", "And you to govern only Heavens taske.", "Valour, Religion, Friendship, Prudence dy'd", "At once with him and all that's good beside:", "And rue deaths refuse natures dreg's confin'd", "To loathsome life Alas are left behinde:", "Where we (so once we us'd) shall now no more", "To fetch day presse about his chamber door;", "From which he issu'd with that awfull state", "It seem'd Mars broke through Janus double gate:", "Yet alwayes temper'd with an Aire so mild", "No Aprill suns that ere so gently smil'd:", "No more shall heare that powerfull language charm.", "Whose force oft spar'd the labour of his arm:", "No more shall follow where he spent the dayes", "In warres in counsell, or in pray'r, and praise,", "Whose meanest acts he would himself advance", "As ungirt David to the Arks did dance.", "All All is gone of ours or his delight", "In horses fierce wild deer or armour bright.", "Francisca faire can nothing now but weep", "Nor with soft notes shall sing his cares asleep.", "I saw him dead, a leaden slumber lyes", "And mortall sleep over those wakefull eys:", "Those gentle Rayes under the lidds were fled", "Which through his lookes that piercing sweetnesse she", "That port which so Majestique was and strong,", "Loose and depriv'd of vigour stretch'd along:", "All wither'd, all discolour'd, pale and wan,", "How much another thing, no more thatman?", "Oh humane glory vaine, Oh death, Oh wings,", "Oh worthlesse worth. Oh transitory things.", "Yet dwelt that greatnesse in his shape decay'd", "That still though dead greater than death he lay'd.", "And in his alter'd face you something faigne", "That threatens death he yet will live againe.", "Not much unlike the saired Oake which shoots", "To heav'n its branches and through earth its roots:", "Whose spacious boughs are hung with Trophees row", "And honour'd wreaths have oft the Victour crown", "When angry Jove darts lightning through the Aire", "At mortalls sins, nor his own plant will spare", "(It groanes and bruses all below that stood", "So many yeares the shelter of the wood)", "The tree ere while foreshorten'd to our view", "When foln shews taller yet then as it grew.", "So shall his praise to after times increase", "When truth shall be allow'd and faction cease.", "And his own shadow with him fall. The Eye", "Detracts from objects then it selfe more high:", "But when death takes them from that envy'd seate", "Seing how little we confesse how greate.", "Thee many ages hence in martiall verse", "Shall th' English souldier ere he charge rehearse:", "Singing of thee influme themselves to fight", "And with the name of Cromwell armyes fright.", "As long as rivers to the seas shall runne.", "As long as Cynthia shall relieve the sunne,", "While staggs shall fly unto the forests thick,", "While sheep delight the grassy downs to pick,", "As long as future time succeeds the past,", "Always thy honour, praise and name shall last.", "Thou in a pitch how farre, beyond the sphere", "Of humane glory towr'st, and raigning there", "Despoyld of mortall robes, in seas of cliyse", "Plunging dost bathe, and tread the bright Abysse:", "There thy greate soule yet once a world das see", "Spacious enough and pure enough for thee.", "How soon thou Moses hast and Josua found", "And David for the Sword, and harpe renown'd?", "How streight canst to each happy Mansion goe?", "(Farr Better known above then here below)", "And in those joyes dost spend the endlesse day", "Which in expressing we our selves betray.", "For we since thou art gone with heavy doome", "Wander like ghosts about thy loved tombe:", "And lost in tears have neither sight nor minde", "To guide us upward through this Region blinde", "Since thou art gone who best that way could'st fearn", "Onely our sighs perhaps may thither reach.", "And Richard yet where his great Parent led", "Beats on the rugged track: He vertue dead", "Revives, and by his milder beams assures;", "And yet how much of them his griefe obscures?", "He as his rather long was kept from sight", "In private to be view'd by better light:", "But open'd once, what splendour dos he throw", "A Cromwell in an houre a Prince will grow.", "How he becomes that seat, how strongly streins", "How gently winds at once the ruling Reins?", "Heav'n to this choise prepar'd a Diadem", "Richer then any Eastern silk or gemme:", "A pearly rainbow; where the Sun inchas'd", "His brows like an Imperiall Jewell grac'd.", "We find already what those Omens mean.", "Earth nere more glad, nor Heaven more serene:", "Cease now our griefs, Calme peace succeeds a war", "Rainbows to storms, Richard to Oliver.", "Tempt not his clemency to try his pow'r", "He threats no Deluge, yet fore tells a showre." ], "linecount": "325" }, { "title": "Tom May's Death", "author": "Andrew Marvell", "lines": [ "As one put drunk into the Packet-boat,", "Tom May was hurry'd hence and did not know't.", "But was amaz'd on the Elysian side,", "And with an Eye uncertain, gazing wide,", "Could not determine in what place he was,", "For whence in Stevens ally Trees or Grass.", "Nor where the Popes head, nor the Mitre lay,", "Signs by which still he found and lost his way.", "At last while doubtfully he all compares,", "He saw near hand, as he imagin'd Ares.", "Such did he seem for corpulence and port,", "But 'twas a man much of another sort;", "'Twas Ben that in the dusky Laurel shade", "Amongst the Chorus of old Poets laid,", "Sounding of ancient Heroes, such as were", "The Subjects Safety, and the Rebel's Fear.", "But how a double headed Vulture Eats,", "Brutus and Cassius the Peoples cheats.", "But seeing May he varied streight his song,", "Gently to signifie that he was wrong.", "Cups more then civil of Emilthian wine,", "I sing (said he) and the Pharsalian Sign,", "Where the Historian of the Common-wealth", "In his own Bowels sheath'd the conquering health.", "By this May to himself and them was come,", "He found he was tranflated, and by whom.", "Yet then with foot as stumbling as his tongue", "Prest for his place among the Learned throng.", "But Ben, who knew not neither foe nor friend,", "Sworn Enemy to all that do pretend,", "Rose more then ever he was seen severe,", "Shook his gray locks, and his own Bayes did tear", "At this intrusion. Then with Laurel wand,", "The awful Sign of his supream command.", "At whose dread Whisk Virgil himself does quake,", "And Horace patiently its stroke does take,", "As he crowds in he whipt him ore the pate", "Like Pembroke at the Masque, and then did rate.", "Far from these blessed shades tread back agen", "Most servil' wit, and Mercenary Pen.", "Polydore, Lucan, Allan, Vandale, Goth,", "Malignant Poet and Historian both.", "Go seek the novice Statesmen, and obtrude", "On them some Romane cast similitude,", "Tell them of Liberty, the Stories fine,", "Until you all grow Consuls in your wine.", "Or thou Dictator of the glass bestow", "On him the Cato, this the Cicero.", "Transferring old Rome hither in your talk,", "As Bethlem's House did to Loretto walk.", "Foul Architect that hadst not Eye to see", "How ill the measures of these States agree.", "And who by Romes example England lay,", "Those but to Lucan do continue May.", "But the nor Ignorance nor seeming good", "Misled, but malice fixt and understood.", "Because some one than thee more worthy weares", "The sacred Laurel, hence are all these teares?", "Must therefore all the World be set on flame,", "Because a Gazet writer mist his aim?", "And for a Tankard-bearing Muse must we", "As for the Basket Guelphs and Gibellines be?", "When the Sword glitters ore the Judges head,", "And fear has Coward Churchmen silenced,", "Then is the Poets time, 'tis then he drawes,", "And single fights forsaken Vertues cause.", "He, when the wheel of Empire, whirleth back,", "And though the World disjointed Axel crack,", "Sings still of ancient Rights and better Times,", "Seeks wretched good, arraigns successful Crimes.", "But thou base man first prostituted hast", "Our spotless knowledge and the studies chast.", "Apostatizing from our Arts and us,", "To turn the Chronicler to Spartacus.", "Yet wast thou taken hence with equal fate,", "Before thou couldst great Charles his death relate.", "But what will deeper wound thy little mind,", "Hast left surviving Davenant still behind", "Who laughs to see in this thy death renew'd,", "Right Romane poverty and gratitude.", "Poor Poet thou, and grateful Senate they,", "Who thy last Reckoning did so largely pay.", "And with the publick gravity would come,", "When thou hadst drunk thy last to lead thee home.", "If that can be thy home where Spencer lyes", "And reverend Chaucer, but their dust does rise", "Against thee, and expels thee from their side,", "As th' Eagles Plumes from other birds divide.", "Nor here thy shade must dwell, Return, Return,", "Where Sulphrey Phlegeton does ever burn.", "The Cerberus with all his Jawes shall gnash,", "Megera thee with all her Serpents lash.", "Thou rivited unto Ixion's wheel", "Shalt break, and the perpetual Vulture feel.", "'Tis just what Torments Poets ere did feign,", "Thou first Historically shouldst sustain.", "Thus by irrevocable Sentence cast,", "May only Master of these Revels past.", "And streight he vanisht in a Cloud of Pitch,", "Such as unto the Sabboth bears the Witch." ], "linecount": "100" }, { "title": "The Death of Cromwell", "author": "Andrew Marvell", "lines": [ "A Poem upon the Death of His Late Highness the Lord Protector", "", "That Providence which had so long the care", "Of Cromwell's head, and numbered every hair,", "Now in itself (the glass where all appears)", "Had seen the period of his golden years:", "And thenceforh only did attend to trace", "What death might least so fair a life deface.", "", "The people, which what most they fear esteem,", "Death when more horrid, so more noble deem,", "And blame the last act, like spectators vain,", "Unless the prince whom they applaud be slain.", "Nor fate indeed can well refuse that right", "To those that lived in war, to die in fight.", "", "But long his valour none had left that could", "Endanger him, or clemency that would.", "And he whom Nature all for peace had made,", "But angry heaven unto war had swayed,", "And so less useful where he most desired,", "For what he least affected was admired,", "Deservиd yet an end whose every part,", "Should speak the wondrous softness of his heart.", "", "To Love and Grief the fatal writ was 'signed;", "(Those nobler weaknesses of human kind,", "From which those powers that issued the decree,", "Although immortal, found they were not free),", "That they, to whom his breast still open lies,", "In gentle passions should his death disguise:", "And leave succeeding ages cause to mourn,", "As long as Grief shall weep, or Love shall burn.", "", "Straight does a slow and languishing disease", "Eliza, Nature's and his darling, seize.", "Her when an infant, taken with her charms,", "He oft would flourish in his mighty arms,", "And, lest their force the tender burden wrong,", "Slacken the vigour of his muscles strong;", "Then to the Mother's breast her softly move,", "Which while she drained of milk, she filled with love.", "But as with riper years her virtue grew,", "And every minute adds a lustre new,", "When with meridian height her beauty shined,", "And thorough that sparkled her fairer mind,", "When she with smiles serene in words discreet", "His hidden soul at ever turn could meet;", "Then might y'ha' daily his affection spied,", "Doubling that knot which destiny had tied,", "While they by sense, not knowing, comprehend", "How on each other both their fates depend.", "With her each day the pleasing hours he shares,", "And at her aspect calms his growing cares;", "Or with a grandsire's joy her children sees", "Hanging about her neck or at his knees.", "Hold fast, dear infants, hold them both or none;", "This will not stay when once the other's gone.", "", "A silent fire now wastes those limbs of wax,", "And him within his tortured image racks.", "So the flower withering which the garden crowned,", "The sad root pines in secret under ground.", "Each groan he doubled and each sigh he sighed,", "Repeated over to the restless night.", "No trembling string composed to numbers new,", "Answers the touch in notes more sad, more true.", "She, lest he grieve, hides what she can her pains,", "And he to lessen hers his sorrow feigns:", "Yet both perceived, yet both concealed their skills,", "And so diminishing increased their ills:", "That whether by each other's grief they fell,", "Or on their own redoubled, none can tell.", "", "And now Eliza's purple locks were shorn,", "Where she so long her Father's fate had worn:", "And frequent lightning to her soul that flies,", "Divides the air, and opens all the skies:", "And now his life, suspended by her breath,", "Ran out impetuously to hasting death.", "Like polished mirrors, so his steely breast", "Had every figure of her woes expressed,", "And with the damp of her last gasp obscured,", "Had drawn such stains as were not to be cured.", "Fate could not either reach with single stroke,", "But the dear image fled, the mirror broke.", "", "Who now shall tell us more of mournful swans,", "Of halcyons kind, or bleeding pelicans?", "No downy breast did e'er so gently beat,", "Or fan with airy plumes so soft an heat.", "For he no duty by his height excused,", "Nor, though a prince, to be a man refused:", "But rather than in his Eliza's pain", "Not love, not grieve, would neither live nor reign:", "And in himself so oft immortal tried,", "Yet in compassion of another died.", "", "So have I seen a vine, whose lasting age", "Of many a winter hath survived the rage,", "Under whose shady tent men every year", "At its rich blood's expense their sorrow cheer,", "If some dear branch where it extends its life", "Chance to be pruned by an untimely knife,", "The parent-tree unto the grief succeeds,", "And through the wound its vital humour bleeds,", "Trickling in watery drops, whose flowing shape", "Weeps that it falls ere fixed into a grape.", "So the dry stock, no more that spreading vine,", "Frustrates the autumn and the hopes of wine.", "", "A secret cause does sure those signs ordain", "Foreboding princes' falls, and seldom vain.", "Whether some kinder powers that wish us well,", "What they above cannot prevent foretell;", "Or the great world do by consent presage,", "As hollow seas with future tempests rage;", "Or rather heaven, which us so long foresees,", "Their funerals celebrates while it decrees.", "But never yet was any human fate", "By Nature solemnized with so much state.", "He unconcerned the dreadful passage crossed;", "But, oh, what pangs that death did Nature cost!", "", "First the great thunder was shot off, and sent", "The signal from the starry battlement.", "The winds receive it, and its force outdo,", "As practising how they could thunder too;", "Out of the binder's hand the sheaves they tore,", "And thrashed the harvest in the airy floor;", "Or of huge trees, whose growth with his did rise,", "The deep foundations opened to the skies.", "Then heavy show'rs the wingиd tempests lead,", "And pour the deluge o'er the chaos' head.", "The race of warlike horses at his tomb", "Offer themselves in many a hecatomb;", "With pensive head towards the ground they fall,", "And helpless languish at the tainted stall.", "Numbers of men decrease with pains unknown,", "And hasten, not to see his death, their own.", "Such tortures all the elements unfixed,", "Troubled to part where so exactly mixed.", "And as through air his wasting spirits flowed,", "The universe laboured beneath their load.", "", "Nature, it seemed with him would Nature vie;", "He with Eliza. It with him would die,", "He without noise still travelled to his end,", "As silent suns to meet the night descend.", "The stars that for him fought had only power", "Left to determine now his final hour,", "Which, since they might not hinder, yet they cast", "To choose it worthy of his glories past.", "", "No part of time but bare his mark away", "Of honour; all the year was Cromwell's day:", "But this, of all the most ausicious found,", "Twice had in open field him victor crowned:", "When up the armиd mountains of Dunbar", "He marched, and through deep Severn ending war.", "What day should him eternize but the same", "That had before immortalized his name?", "That so who ere would at his death have joyed,", "In their own griefs might find themselves employed;", "But those that sadly his departure grieved,", "Yet joyed, remebering what he once achieved.", "And the last minute his victorious ghost", "Gave chase to Ligny on the Belgic coast.", "Here ended all his mortal toils: he laid", "And slept in place under the laurel shade.", "", "O Cromwell, Heaven's Favourite! To none", "Have such high honours from above been shown:", "For whom the elements we mourners see,", "And heaven itself would the great herald be,", "Which with more care set forth his obsequies", "Than those of Moses hid from human eyes,", "As jealous only here lest all be less,", "That we could to his memory express.", "Then let us to our course of mourning keep:", "Where heaven leads, 'tis piety to weep.", "Stand back, ye seas, and shrunk beneath the veil", "Of your abyss, with covered head bewail", "Your Monarch: we demand not your supplies", "To compass in our isle; our tears suffice:", "Since him away the dismal tempest rent,", "Who once more joined us to the continent;", "Who planted England on the Flandric shore,", "And stretched our frontier to the Indian ore;", "Whose greater truths obscure the fables old,", "Whether of British saints or Worthies told;", "And in a valour lessening Arthur's deeds,", "For holiness the Confessor exceeds.", "", "He first put arms into Religion's hand,", "And timorous Conscience unto Courage manned:", "The soldier taught that inward mail to wear,", "And fearing God how they should nothing fear.", "`Those strokes,' he said, `will pierce through all below", "Where those that strike from heaven fetch their blow.'", "Astonished armies did their flight prepare,", "And cities strong were stormиd by his prayer;", "Of that, forever Preston's field shall tell", "The story, and impregnable Clonmel.", "And where the sandy mountain Fenwick scaled,", "The sea between, yet hence his prayer prevailed.", "What man was ever so in heaven obeyed", "Since the commanded sun o'er Gideon stayed?", "In all his wars needs must he triumph when", "He conquered God still ere he fought with men:", "", "Hence, though in battle none so brave or fierce,", "Yet him the adverse steel could never pierce.", "Pity it seemed to hurt him more that felt", "Each wound himself which he to others dealt;", "Danger itself refusing to offend", "So loose an enemy, so fast a friend.", "", "Friendship, that sacred virtue, long does claim", "The first foundation of his house and name:", "But within one its narrow limits fall,", "His tenderness extended unto all.", "And that deep soul through every channel flows,", "Where kindly nature loves itself to lose.", "More strong affections never reason served,", "Yet still affected most what best deserved.", "If he Eliza loved to that degree,", "(Though who more worthy to be loved than she?)", "If so indulgent to his own, how dear", "To him the children of the highest were?", "For her he once did nature's tribute pay:", "For these his life adventured every day:", "And 'twould be found, could we his thoughts have cast,", "Their griefs struck deepest, if Eliza's last.", "", "What prudence more than human did he need", "To keep so dear, so differing minds agreed?", "The worser sort, as conscious of their ill,", "Lie weak and easy to the ruler's will;", "But to the good (too many or too few)", "All law is useless, all reward is due.", "Oh ill-advised, if not for love, for shame,", "Spare yet your own, if you neglect his fame;", "Lest others dare to think your zeal a mask,", "And you to govern, only heaven's task.", "", "Valour, religion, friendship, prudence died", "At once with him, and all that's good beside;", "And we death's refuse, nature's dregs, confined", "To loathsome life, alas! are left behind.", "Where we (so once we used) shall now no more", "To fetch the day, press about his chamber door--", "From which he issued with that awful state,", "It seemd Mars broke through Janus' double gate,", "Yet always tempered with an air so mild,", "No April suns that e'er so gently smiled--", "No more shall hear that powerful language charm,", "Whose force oft spared the labour of his arm:", "No more shall follow where he spent the days", "In war, in counsel, or in prayer and praise,", "Whose meanest acts he would himself advance,", "As ungirt David to the ark did dance.", "All, all is gone of our or his delight", "In horses fierce, wild deer, or armour bright;", "Francisca fair can nothing now but weep,", "Nor with soft notes shall sing his cares asleep.", "", "I saw him dead. A leaden slumber lies", "And mortal sleep over those wakeful eyes:", "Those gentle rays under the lids were fled,", "Which through his looks that piercing sweetness shed;", "That port which so majestic was and strong,", "Loose and deprived of vigour, stretched along:", "All withered, all discoloured, pale and wan--", "How much another thing, nor more that man?", "Oh human glory vain, oh death, oh wings,", "Oh worthless world, oh transitory things!", "", "Yet dwelt that greatnesss in his shape decayed,", "That still through dead, greater than death he laid:", "And in his altered face you something feign", "That threatens death he yet will live again.", "", "Not much unlike the sacred oak which shoots", "To heaven its branches and through earth its roots,", "Whose spacious bought are hung with trophies round,", "And honoured wreaths have oft the victor crowned.", "When angry Jove darts lightning through the air,", "At mortals' sins, nor his own plant will spare,", "(It groans, and bruises all below, that stood", "So many years the shelter of the wood.)", "The tree erewhile foreshortened to our view,", "When fall'n shows taller yet than as it grew:", "", "So shall his praise to after times increase,", "When truth shall be allowed, and faction cease,", "And his own shadows with him fall. The eye", "Detracts from object than itself more high:", "But when death takes them from that envied seat,", "Seeing how little, we confess how great.", "", "Thee, many ages hence in martial verse", "Shall the English soldier, ere he charge, rehearse,", "Singing of thee, inflame themselves to fight,", "And with the name of Cromwell, armies fright.", "As long as rivers to the seas shall run,", "As long as Cynthia shall relieve the sun,", "While stags shall fly unto the firests thick,", "While sheep delight the grassy downs to pick,", "As long as future times succeeds the past,", "Always they honour, praise, and name shall last.", "", "Thou in a pitch how far beyond the sphere", "Of human glory tower'st, and reigning there", "Despoiled of mortal robes, in seas of bliss,", "Plunging dost bathe, and tread the bright abyss:", "There thy great soul yet once a world does see,", "Spacious enough, and pure enough for thee.", "How soon thou Moses hast, and Joshua found,", "And David for the sword and harp renowned?", "How straight canst to each happy mansion go?", "(Far better known above than here below)", "And in those joys dost spend the endless day,", "Which in expressing we ourselves betray.", "", "For we, since thou art gone, with heavy doom,", "Wander like ghosts about thy lovиd tomb;", "And lost in tears, have neither sight nor mind", "To guide us upward through this region blind.", "Since thou art gone, who best that way couldst teach,", "Only our sighs, perhaps, may thither reach.", "", "And Richard yet, where his great parent led,", "Beats on the rugged track: he, virtue dead,", "Revives, and by his milder beams assures;", "And yet how much of them his grief obscures?", "", "He, as his father, long was kept from sight", "In private, to be viewed by better light;", "But opened once, what splendour does he throw?", "A Cromwell in an hour a prince will grow.", "How he becomes that seat, how strongly strains,", "How gently winds at once the ruling reins?", "Heaven to this choice prepared a diadem,", "Richer than any Easter silk or gem;", "A pearly rainbow, where the sun enchased", "His brows, like an imperial jewel graced.", "", "We find already what those omens mean,", "Earth ne'er more glad, nor heaven more serene.", "Cease now our griefs, calm peace succeeds a war,", "Rainbows to storms, Richard to Oliver.", "Tempt not his clemency to try his power,", "He threats no deluge, yet foretells a shower." ], "linecount": "325" }, { "title": "On the Death of the Honourable Mr. James Thynne", "author": "Anne Kingsmill Finch", "lines": [ "Farewell, lov'd Youth! since 'twas the Will of Heaven", "So soon to take, what had so late been giv'n;", "And thus our Expectations to destroy,", "Raising a Grief, where we had form'd a Joy;", "Who once believ'd, it was the Fates Design", "In Him to double an Illustrious Line,", "And in a second Channel spread that Race", "Where ev'ry Virtue shines, with every Grace.", "But we mistook, and 'twas not here below", "That this engrafted Scion was to grow;", "The Seats above requir'd him, that each Sphere", "Might soon the Offspring of such Parents share.", "Resign him then to the supream Intent,", "You, who but Flesh to that blest Spirit lent.", "Again disrob'd, let him to Bliss retire,", "And only bear from you, amidst that Choir,", "What, Precept or Example did inspire,", "A Title to Rewards, from that rich store", "Of Pious Works, which you have sent before.", "Then lay the fading Reliques, which remain,", "In the still Vault (excluding farther Pain);", "Where Kings and Counsellors their Progress close,", "And his renowned Ancestors repose;", "Where COVENTRY withdrew All but in Name,", "Leaving the World his Benefits and Fame;", "Where his Paternal Predecessor lies,", "Once large of Thought, and rank'd among the Wise;", "Whose Genius in Long-Leat we may behold", "(A Pile, as noble as if he'd been told", "By WEYMOUTH, it shou'd be in time possest,", "And strove to suit the Mansion to the Guest.)", "Nor favour'd, nor disgrac'd, there ESSEX sleeps,", "Nor SOMERSET his Master's Sorrows weeps,", "Who to the shelter of th' unenvy'd Grave", "Convey'd the Monarch, whom he cou'd not save;", "Though, Roman-like, his own less-valu'd Head", "He proffer'd in that injur'd Martyr's stead.", "Nor let that matchless Female 'scape my Pen,", "Who their Whole Duty taught to weaker Men,", "And of each Sex the Two best Gifts enjoy'd,", "The Skill to write, the Modesty to hide;", "Whilst none shou'd that Performance disbelieve,", "Who led the Life, might the Directions give.", "With such as These, whence He deriv'd his Blood,", "Great on Record, or eminently Good,", "Let Him be laid, till Death's long Night shall cease,", "And breaking Glory interrupt the Peace.", "Mean-while, ye living Parents, ease your Grief", "By Tears, allow'd as Nature's due Relief.", "For when we offer to the Pow'rs above,", "Like You, the dearest Objects of our Love;", "When, with that patient Saint in Holy Writ,", "We've learnt at once to Grieve, and to Submit;", "When contrite Sighs, like hallow'd Incense, rise", "Bearing our Anguish to th' appeased Skies;", "Then may those Show'rs, which take from Sorrow birth,", "And still are tending tow'rd this baleful Earth,", "O'er all our deep and parching Cares diffuse,", "Like Eden's Springs, or Hermon's soft'ning Dews.", "", "But lend your Succours, ye Almighty Pow'rs,", "For as the Wound, the Balsam too is Yours.", "In vain are Numbers, or persuasive Speech,", "What Poets write, or what the Pastors teach,", "Till You, who make, again repair the Breach.", "For when to Shades of Death our Joys are fled,", "When for a Loss, like This, our Tears are shed,", "None can revive the Heart, but who can raise the Dead.", "But yet, my Muse, if thou hadst softer Verse", "Than e'er bewail'd the melancholy Herse;", "If thou hadst Pow'r to dissipate the Gloom", "Inherent to the Solitary Tomb;", "To rescue thence the Memory and Air", "Of what we lately saw so Fresh, so Fair;", "Then shou'd this Noble Youth thy Art engage", "To shew the Beauties of his blooming Age,", "The pleasing Light, that from his Eyes was cast,", "Like hasty Beams, too Vigorous to last;", "Where the warm Soul, as on the Confines, lay", "Ready for Flight, and for Eternal Day.", "Gently dispos'd his Nature shou'd be shown,", "And all the Mother's Sweetness made his Own.", "The Father's Likeness was but faintly seen,", "As ripen'd Fruits are figur'd by the Green.", "Nor cou'd we hope, had he fulfill'd his Days,", "He shou'd have reach'd WEYMOUTH's unequal'd Praise.", "Still One distinguish'd plant each Lineage shews,", "And all the rest beneath it's Stature grows.", "Of Tully's Race but He possess'd the Tongue,", "And none like Julius from the Caesars sprung.", "Next, in his harmless Sports he shou'd be drawn", "Urging his Courser, o'er the flow'ry Lawn;", "Sprightly Himself, as the enliven'd Game,", "Bold in the Chace, and full of gen'rous Flame;", "Yet in the Palace, Tractable and Mild,", "Perfect in all the Duties of a Child;", "Which fond Reflection pleases, whilst it pains,", "Like penetrating Notes of sad Harmonious Strains.", "Selected Friendships timely he began,", "And siezed in Youth that best Delight of Man,", "Leaving a growing Race to mourn his End,", "Their earliest and their Ages promis'd Friend.", "But far away alas! that Prospect moves,", "Lost in the Clouds, like distant Hills and Groves,", "Whilst with encreasing Steps we all pursue", "What Time alone can bring to nearer View,", "That Future State, which Darkness yet involves,", "Known but by Death, which ev'ry Doubt resolves." ], "linecount": "107" }, { "title": "Such, Such Is Death", "author": "Charles Sorley", "lines": [ "Such, such is Death: no triumph: no defeat:", "Only an empty pail, a slate rubbed clean,", "A merciful putting away of what has been.", "", "And this we know: Death is not Life, effete,", "Life crushed, the broken pail. We who have seen", "So marvellous things know well the end not yet.", "", "Victor and vanquished are a-one in death:", "Coward and brave: friend, foe. Ghosts do not say,", "\"Come, what was your record when you drew breath?\"", "But a big blot has hid each yesterday", "So poor, so manifestly incomplete.", "And your bright Promise, withered long and sped,", "Is touched, stirs, rises, opens and grows sweet", "And blossoms and is you, when you are dead." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "IF God compel thee to this destiny,", "To die alone, with none beside thy bed", "To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said", "And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee,--", "Pray then alone, ' O Christ, come tenderly !", "By thy forsaken Sonship in the red", "Drear wine-press,--by the wilderness out-spread,--", "And the lone garden where thine agony", "Fell bloody from thy brow,--by all of those", "Permitted desolations, comfort mine !", "No earthly friend being near me, interpose", "No deathly angel 'twixt my face aud thine,", "But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose,", "And smile away my mortal to Divine !" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "Emily Bronte", "lines": [ "Death! that struck when I was most confiding", "In my certain faith of joy to be -", "Strike again, Time's withered branch dividing", "From the fresh root of Eternity!", "", "Leaves, upon Time's branch, were growing brightly,", "Full of sap, and full of silver dew;", "Birds beneath its shelter gathered nightly;", "Daily round its flowers the wild bees flew.", "", "Sorrow passed, and plucked the golden blossom;", "Guilt stripped off the foliage in its pride;", "But, within its parent's kindly bosom,", "Flowed for ever Life's restoring-tide.", "", "Little mourned I for the parted gladness,", "For the vacant nest and silent song -", "Hope was there, and laughed me out of sadness;", "Whispering, \" Winter will not linger long!\"", "", "And, behold! with tenfold increase blessing,", "Spring adorned the beauty-burdened spray;", "Wind and rain and fervent heat, caressing,", "Lavished glory on that second May!", "", "High it rose - no winged grief could sweep it;", "Sin was scared to distance with its shine;", "Love, and its own life, had power to keep it", "From all wrong - from every blight but thine!", "", "Cruel Death! The young leaves droop and languish;", "Evening's gentle air may still restore -", "No! the morning sunshine mocks my anguish -", "Time, for me, must never blossom more!", "", "Strike it down, that other boughs may flourish", "Where that perished sapling used to be;", "Thus, at least, its mouldering corpse will nourish", "That from which it sprung - Eternity." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "So give me back to Death --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "So give me back to Death --", "The Death I never feared", "Except that it deprived of thee --", "And now, by Life deprived,", "In my own Grave I breathe", "And estimate its size --", "Its size is all that Hell can guess --", "And all that Heaven was --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Suspense -- is Hostiler than Death --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Suspense -- is Hostiler than Death --", "Death -- tho'soever Broad,", "Is Just Death, and cannot increase --", "Suspense -- does not conclude --", "", "But perishes -- to live anew --", "But just anew to die --", "Annihilation -- plated fresh", "With Immortality --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Bereavement in their death to feel", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Bereavement in their death to feel", "Whom We have never seen --", "A Vital Kinsmanship import", "Our Soul and theirs -- between --", "", "For Stranger -- Strangers do not mourn --", "There be Immortal friends", "Whom Death see first -- 'tis news of this", "That paralyze Ourselves --", "", "Who, vital only to Our Thought --", "Such Presence bear away", "In dying -- 'tis as if Our Souls", "Absconded -- suddenly --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Said Death to Passion", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Said Death to Passion", "\"Give of thine an Acre unto me.\"", "Said Passion, through contracting Breaths", "\"A Thousand Times Thee Nay.\"", "", "Bore Death from Passion", "All His East", "He -- sovereign as the Sun", "Resituated in the West", "And the Debate was done." ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "Death is a Dialogue between", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Death is a Dialogue between", "The Spirit and the Dust.", "\"Dissolve\" says Death -- The Spirit \"Sir", "I have another Trust\" --", "", "Death doubts it -- Argues from the Ground --", "The Spirit turns away", "Just laying off for evidence", "An Overcoat of Clay." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,", "Except that it is gone", "Are ignorant of its Concern", "As if it were not born.", "", "Through all their former Places, we", "Like Individuals go", "Who something lost, the seeking for", "Is all that's left them, now --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "For Death -- or rather", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "For Death -- or rather", "For the Things 'twould buy --", "This -- put away", "Life's Opportunity --", "", "The Things that Death will buy", "Are Room --", "Escape from Circumstances --", "And a Name --", "", "With Gifts of Life", "How Death's Gifts may compare --", "We know not --", "For the Rates -- lie Here --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "All but Death, can be Adjusted --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "All but Death, can be Adjusted --", "Dynasties repaired --", "Systems -- settled in their Sockets --", "Citadels -- dissolved --", "", "Wastes of Lives -- resown with Colors", "By Succeeding Springs --", "Death -- unto itself -- Exception --", "Is exempt from Change --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Love -- is that later Thing than Death --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Love -- is that later Thing than Death --", "More previous -- than Life --", "Confirms it at its entrance -- And", "Usurps it -- of itself --", "", "Tastes Death -- the first -- to hand the sting", "The Second -- to its friend --", "Disarms the little interval --", "Deposits Him with God --", "", "Then hovers -- an inferior Guard --", "Lest this Beloved Charge", "Need -- once in an Eternity --", "A smaller than the Large --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Frost of Death was on the Pane --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The Frost of Death was on the Pane --", "\"Secure your Flower\" said he.", "Like Sailors fighting with a Leak", "We fought Mortality.", "", "Our passive Flower we held to Sea --", "To Mountain -- To the Sun --", "Yet even on his Scarlet shelf", "To crawl the Frost begun --", "", "We pried him back", "Ourselves we wedged", "Himself and her between,", "Yet easy as the narrow Snake", "He forked his way along", "", "Till all her helpless beauty bent", "And then our wrath begun --", "We hunted him to his Ravine", "We chased him to his Den --", "", "We hated Death and hated Life", "And nowhere was to go --", "Than Sea and continent there is", "A larger -- it is Woe --" ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "Robbed by Death -- but that was easy --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Robbed by Death -- but that was easy --", "To the failing Eye", "I could hold the latest Glowing --", "Robbed by Liberty", "", "For Her Jugular Defences --", "This, too, I endured --", "Hint of Glory -- it afforded --", "For the Brave Beloved --", "", "Fraud of Distance -- Fraud of Danger,", "Fraud of Death -- to bear --", "It is Bounty -- to Suspense's", "Vague Calamity --", "", "Stalking our entire Possession", "On a Hair's result --", "Then -- seesawing -- coolly -- on it --", "Trying if it split --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "A Death blow is a Life blow to Some", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "A Death blow is a Life blow to Some", "Who till they died, did not alive become --", "Who had they lived, had died but when", "They died, Vitality begun." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "Helen Hunt Jackson", "lines": [ "My body, eh? Friend Death, how now?", "Why all this tedious pomp of writ?", "Thou hast reclaimed it sure and slow", "For half a century bit by bit.", "", "In faith thou knowest more to-day", "Than I do, where it can be found!", "This shrivelled lump of suffering clay,", "To which I am now chained and bound,", "", "Has not of kith or kin a trace", "To the good body once I bore;", "Look at this shrunken, ghastly face:", "Didst ever see that face before?", "", "Ah, well, friend Death, good friend thou art;", "Thy only fault thy lagging gait,", "Mistaken pity in thy heart", "For timorous ones that bid thee wait.", "", "Do quickly all thou hast to do,", "Nor I nor mine will hindrance make;", "I shall be free when thou art through;", "I grudge thee nought that thou must take!", "", "Stay! I have lied; I grudge thee one,", "Yes, two I grudge thee at this last,--", "Two members which have faithful done", "My will and bidding in the past.", "", "I grudge thee this right hand of mine;", "I grudge thee this quick-beating heart;", "They never gave me coward sign,", "Nor played me once the traitor's part.", "", "I see now why in olden days", "Men in barbaric love or hate", "Nailed enemies' hands at wild crossways,", "Shrined leaders' hearts in costly state:", "", "The symbol, sign and instrument", "Of each soul's purpose, passion, strife,", "Of fires in which are poured and spent", "Their all of love, their all of life.", "", "O feeble, mighty human hand!", "O fragile, dauntless human heart!", "The universe holds nothing planned", "With such sublime, transcendent art!", "", "Yes, Death, I own I grudge thee mine", "Poor little hand, so feeble now;", "Its wrinkled palm, its altered line,", "Its veins so pallid and so slow --", "", "Ah, well, friend Death, good friend thou art;", "I shall be free when thou art through.", "Take all there is -- take hand and heart;", "There must be somewhere work to do." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "James Henry Leigh Hunt", "lines": [ "Death is a road our dearest friends have gone;", "Why with such leaders, fear to say, \"Lead on?\"", "Its gate repels, lest it too soon be tried,", "But turns in balm on the immortal side.", "Mothers have passed it: fathers, children; men", "Whose like we look not to behold again;", "Women that smiled away their loving breath;", "Soft is the travelling on the road to death!", "But guilt has passed it? men not fit to die?", "O, hush -- for He that made us all is by!", "Human we're all -- all men, all born of mothers;", "All our own selves in the worn-out shape of others;", "Our used, and oh, be sure, not to be ill-used brothers!" ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "Holy Sonnet X: Death Be Not Proud", "author": "John Donne", "lines": [ "Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee", "Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;", "For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow", "Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.", "From rest and sleep, which yet thy pictures be,", "Much pleasure, then from thee much more, must low", "And soonest our best men with thee do go,", "Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.", "Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men", "And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,", "And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well", "And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then ?", "One short sleep past, we wake eternally,", "And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Verses on the Death of Doctor Swift", "author": "Jonathan Swift", "lines": [ "As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew", "From nature, I believe 'em true:", "They argue no corrupted mind", "In him; the fault is in mankind.", "", "This maxim more than all the rest", "Is thought too base for human breast:", "\"In all distresses of our friends,", "We first consult our private ends;", "While nature, kindly bent to ease us,", "Points out some circumstance to please us.\"", "", "If this perhaps your patience move,", "Let reason and experience prove.", "We all behold with envious eyes", "Our equal raised above our size.", "Who would not at a crowded show", "Stand high himself, keep others low?", "I love my friend as well as you:", "But why should he obstruct my view?", "Then let me have the higher post:", "Suppose it but an inch at most.", "If in battle you should find", "One whom you love of all mankind,", "Had some heroic action done,", "A champion killed, or trophy won;", "Rather than thus be overtopped,", "Would you not wish his laurels cropped?", "Dear honest Ned is in the gout,", "Lies racked with pain, and you without:", "How patiently you hear him groan!", "How glad the case is not your own!", "", "What poet would not grieve to see", "His breth'ren write as well as he?", "But rather than they should excel,", "He wished his rivals all in hell.", "", "Her end when Emulation misses,", "She turns to Envy, stings, and hisses:", "The strongest friendship yields to pride,", "Unless the odds be on our side.", "Vain human kind! fantastic race!", "Thy various follies who can trace?", "Self-love, ambition, envy, pride,", "Their empire in our hearts divide.", "Give others riches, power, and station,", "'Tis all on me an usurpation.", "I have no title to aspire;", "Yet, when you sink, I seem the higher.", "In Pope I cannot read a line,", "But with a sigh I wish it mine;", "When he can in one couplet fix", "More sense than I can do in six;", "It gives me such a jealous fit,", "I cry \"Pox take him and his wit!\"", "I grieve to be outdone by Gay", "In my own hum'rous biting way.", "Arbuthnot is no more my friend,", "Who dares to irony pretend,", "Which I was born to introduce,", "Refined it first, and shewed its use.", "St. John, as well as Pultney, knows", "That I had some repute for prose;", "And till they drove me out of date", "Could maul a minister of state.", "If they have mortified my pride,", "And made me throw my pen aside;", "If with such talents Heav'n has blest 'em,", "Have I not reason to detest 'em?", "", "To all my foes, dear Fortune, send", "Thy gifts; but never to my friend:", "I tamely can endure the first;", "But this with envy makes me burst.", "Thus much may serve by way of proem:", "Proceed we therefore to our poem.", "", "The time is not remote when I", "Must by the course of nature die;", "When, I foresee, my special friends", "Will try to find their private ends:", "Tho' it is hardly understood", "Which way my death can do them good,", "Yet thus, methinks, I hear 'em speak:", "\"See, how the Dean begins to break!", "Poor gentleman, he droops apace!", "You plainly find it in his face.", "That old vertigo in his head", "Will never leave him till he's dead.", "Besides, his memory decays:", "He recollects not what he says;", "He cannot call his friends to mind;", "Forgets the place where last he dined;", "Plyes you with stories o'er and o'er,", "He told them fifty times before.", "How does he fancy we can sit", "To hear his out-of-fashioned wit?", "But he takes up with younger folks,", "Who for his wine will bear his jokes.", "Faith! he must make his stories shorter,", "Or change his comrades once a quarter:", "In half the time he talks them round,", "There must another set be found.", "", "\"For poetry he's past his prime:", "He takes an hour to find a rhyme;", "His fire is out, his wit decayed,", "His fancy sunk, his Muse a jade.", "I'd have him throw away his pen; -", "But there's no talking to some men!\"", "", "And then their tenderness appears,", "By adding largely to my years:", "\"He's older than he would be reckoned,", "And well remembers Charles the Second.", "He hardly drinks a pint of wine;", "And that, I doubt, is no good sign.", "His stomach too begins to fail;", "Last year we thought him strong and hale,", "But now he's quite another thing:", "I wish he may hold out till spring.\"", "Then hug themselves, and reason thus:", "\"It is not yet so bad with us!\"", "", "In such a case they talk in tropes,", "And by their fears express their hopes:", "Some great misfortune to portend,", "No enemy can match a friend.", "With all the kindness they profess,", "The merit of a lucky guess", "(When daily how-d'ye's come of course,", "And servants answer, Worse and worse!)", "Would please 'em better than to tell", "That \"God be praised, the Dean is well.\"", "Then he who prophecied the best", "Approves his foresight to the rest:", "\"You know I always feared the worst,", "And often told you so at first.\" -", "He'd rather choose that I should die", "Than his prediction prove a lie.", "Not one foretells I shall recover,", "But all agree to give me over.", "", "Yet, should some neighbour feel a pain", "Just in the parts where I complain,", "How many a message would he send?", "What hearty prayers that I should mend?", "Inquire what regimen I kept,", "What gave me ease, and how I slept?", "And more lament when I was dead,", "Than all the sniv'llers round my bed.", "", "My good companions, never fear,", "For though you may mistake a year,", "Though your prognostics run too fast,", "They must be verified at last.", "", "Behold the fatal day arrive!", "\"How is the Dean?\" -\"He's just alive.\"", "Now the departing prayer is read:", "\"He hardly breathes.\" -\"The Dean is dead.\"", "", "Before the Passing-bell begun,", "The news thro' half the town has run.", "\"O, may we all for death prepare!", "What has he left? and who's his heir?\" -", "\"I know no more that what the news is:", "'Tis all bequeathed to public uses.\" -", "\"To public use! A perfect whim!", "What had the public done for him?", "Mere envy, avarice, and pride:", "He gave it all -but first he died.", "And had the Dean, in all the nation,", "No worthy friend, no poor relation?", "So ready to do strangers good,", "Forgetting his own flesh and blood!\"", "", "Now Grub Street wits are all employed;", "With elegies the town is cloyed:", "Some paragraph in ev'ry paper,", "To curse the Dean, or bless the Drapier.", "", "The doctors, tender of their fame,", "Wisely on me lay all the blame:", "\"We must confess his case was nice;", "But he would never take advice.", "Had he been ruled, for aught appears,", "He might have lived these twenty years;", "For when we opened him we found", "That all his vital parts were sound.\"", "", "From Dublin soon to London spread,", "'Tis told at court \"the Dean is dead.\"", "Kind Lady Suffolk, in the spleen,", "Runs laughing up to tell the queen.", "The queen, so gracious, mild, and good,", "Cries \"Is he gone? 'tis time he should.", "He's dead, you say; why, let him rot:", "I'm glad the medals were forgot.", "I promised him, I own; but when?", "I only was a princess then;", "But now, as consort of a king,", "You know, 'tis quite a diff'rent thing.\"", "", "Now Chartres, at Sir Robert's levee,", "Tells with a sneer the tidings heavy:", "\"Why, is he dead without his shoes?\"", "Cries Bob \"I'm sorry for the news:", "O, were the wretch but living still,", "And in his place my good friend Will!", "Or had a mitre on his head,", "Provided Bolinbroke were dead!\"", "", "Now Curll his shop from rubbish drains:", "Three genuine tomes of Swift's remains!", "And then, to make them pass the glibber,", "Revised by Tibbalds, Moore, and Cibber.", "He'll treat me as he does my betters,", "Publish my will, my life, my letters;", "Revive the libels born to die;", "Which Pope must bear, as well as I.", "", "Here shift the scene, to represent", "How those I love my death lament.", "Poor Pope will grieve a month; and Gay", "A week; and Arbuthnot a day.", "St. John himself will scarce forbear", "To bite his pen, and drop a tear.", "The rest will give a shrug, and cry", "\"I'm sorry -but we all must die.\"", "", "Indifference, clad in Wisdom's guise,", "All fortitude of mind supplies:", "For how can stony bowels melt", "In those who never pity felt?", "When we are lashed, they kiss the rod,", "Resigning to the will of God.", "", "The fools, my juniors by a year,", "Are tortured with suspense and fear:", "Who wisely thought my age a screen", "When death approached, to stand between: -", "The screen removed, their hearts are trembling;", "They mourn for me without dissembling.", "", "My female friends, whose tender hearts", "Have better learned to act their parts,", "Receive the news in doleful dumps:", "\"The Dean is dead -and what is trumps? -", "Then Lord have mercy on his soul!", "- Ladies, I'll venture for the vole. -", "Six deans, they say, must bear the pall.", "- I wish I knew what king to call. -", "Madam, your husband will attend", "The funeral of so good a friend?", "No, madam, 'tis a shocking sight,", "And he's engaged tomorrow night;", "My Lady Club would take it ill", "If he should fail her at quadrille.", "He loved the Dean -I lead a heart -", "But dearest friends, they say, must part.", "His time was come; he ran his race;", "We hope he's in a better place.\"", "Why do we grieve that friends should die?", "No loss more easy to supply.", "One year is past: a different scene:", "No further mention of the Dean;", "Who now, alas, no more is missed", "Than if he never did exist.", "Where's now this fav'rite of Apollo?", "Departed: -and his works must follow;", "Must undergo the common fate;", "His kind of wit is out of date.", "", "Some country squire to Lintot goes,", "Inquires for \"Swift in Verse and Prose\".", "Says Lintot \"I have heard the name;", "He died a year ago.\" -\"The same.\"", "He searches all the shop in vain.", "\"Sir, you may find them in Duck Lane:", "I sent them with a load of books", "Last Monday to the pastry-cook's.", "To fancy they could live a year!", "I find you're but a stranger here.", "The Dean was famous in his time,", "And had a kind of knack at rhyme.", "His way of writing now is past;", "The town has got a better taste.", "I keep no antiquated stuff;", "But spick and span I have enough.", "Pray do but give me leave to show 'em:", "Here's Colley Cibber's birthday poem.", "This ode you never yet have seen,", "By Stephen Duck, upon the queen.", "Then here's a letter finely penned", "Against the Craftsman and his friend;", "It clearly shows that all reflection", "On ministers is disaffection.", "Next, here's Sir Robert's vindication;", "And Mr Henley's last oration.", "The hawkers have not got 'em yet -", "Your honour please to buy a set?", "Here's Woolston's tracts, the twelfth edition,", "'Tis read by ev'ry politician:", "The country members, when in town,", "To all their boroughs send them down;", "You never met a thing so smart!", "The courtiers have them all by heart;", "Those maids of honour (who can read),", "Are taught to use them for their creed.", "The rev'rend author's good intention", "Has been rewarded with a pension.", "He does an honour to his gown,", "By bravely running priestcraft down:", "He shows, as sure as God's in Gloucester,", "That Moses was a grand imposter;", "That all his miracles were cheats,", "Performed as jugglers do their feats.", "The church had never such a writer;", "A shame he has not got a mitre!\"", "", "Suppose me dead; and then suppose", "A club assembled at the Rose;", "Where, from discourse of this and that,", "I grow the subject of their chat.", "And while they toss my name about,", "With favour some, and some without,", "One, quite indiff'rent in the cause,", "My character impartial draws:", "", "\"The Dean, if we believe report,", "Was never ill-received at court.", "As for his works in verse and prose,", "I own myself no judge of those;", "Nor can I tell what critics thought 'em,", "But this I know, all people bought 'em;", "As with a moral view designed", "To cure the vices of mankind:", "And, if he often missed his aim,", "The world must own it, to their shame:", "The praise is his, and theirs the blame.\"", "", "\"Sir, I have heard another story:", "He was a most confounded Tory,", "And grew, or he is much belied,", "Extremely dull before he died.\"", "", "\"Can we the Drapier then forget?", "Is not our nation in his debt?", "'Twas he that writ the Drapier's letters!\"", "", "\"He should have left them for his betters;", "We had a hundred abler men,", "Nor need depend upon his pen.", "Say what you will about his reading,", "You never can defend his breeding;", "Who in his satires running riot,", "Could never leave the world in quiet;", "Attacking, when he took the whim,", "Court, city, camp -all one to him!", "But why should he, except he slobber't,", "Offend our patriot, great Sir Robert,", "Whose counsels aid the sov'reign power", "To save the nation every hour?", "What scenes of evil he unravels", "In satires, libels, lying travels!", "Not sparing his own clergy-cloth,", "But eats into it, like a moth!\"", "", "\"His vein, ironically grave,", "Exposed the fool and lashed the knave.", "To steal a hint was never known,", "But what he writ was all his own.", "He never thought an honour done him", "Because a duke was proud to own him;", "Would rather slip aside and choose", "To talk with wits in dirty shoes;", "Despised the fools with stars and garters,", "So often seen caressing Chartres.", "He never courted men in station,", "Nor persons held in admiration.", "Of no man's greatness was afraid,", "Because he sought for no man's aid.", "Though trusted long in great affairs,", "He gave himself no haughty airs.", "Without regarding private ends,", "Spent all his credit for his friends;", "And only chose the wise and good;", "No flatterers; no allies in blood;", "But succoured virtue in distress,", "And seldom failed of good success;", "As numbers in their hearts must own,", "Who, but for him, had been unknown.", "With princes kept a due decorum,", "But never stood in awe before 'em.", "He followed David's lesson just:", "In princes never put thy trust.", "And would you make him truly sour,", "Provoke him with a slave in power.", "The Irish senate, if you named,", "With what impatience he declaimed!", "Fair LIBERTY was all his cry;", "For her he stood prepared to die;", "For her he boldly stood alone;", "For her he oft exposed his own.", "Two kingdoms, just as faction led,", "Had set a price upon his head;", "But not a traitor could be found", "To sell him for six hundred pound.", "Had he but spared his tongue and pen,", "He might have rose like other men;", "But power was never in his thought,", "And wealth he valued not a groat.", "Ingratitude he often found,", "And pitied those who meant the wound;", "But kept the tenor of his mind", "To merit well of human kind;", "Nor made a sacrifice of those", "Who still were true, to please his foes.", "He laboured many a fruitless hour", "To reconcile his friends in power;", "Saw mischief by a faction brewing,", "While they pursued each other's ruin.", "But finding vain was all his care,", "He left the court in mere despair.", "And oh! how short are human schemes!", "Here ended all our golden dreams.", "What St John's skill in state affairs,", "What Ormond's valour, Oxford's cares,", "To save their sinking country lent,", "Was all destroyed by one event.", "Too soon that precious life was ended,", "On which alone our weal depended.", "When up a dangerous faction starts,", "With wrath and vengeance in their hearts,", "By solemn League and Cov'nant bound,", "To ruin, slaughter, and confound;", "To turn religion to a fable,", "And make the government a Babel;", "Pervert the laws, disgrace the gown,", "Corrupt the senate, rob the crown;", "To sacrifice old England's glory,", "And make her infamous in story: -", "When such a tempest shook the land,", "How could unguarded Virtue stand!", "With horror, grief, despair, the Dean", "Beheld the dire destructive scene:", "His friends in exile, or the tower,", "Himself within the frown of power,", "Pursued by base envenomed pens,", "Far to the land of slaves and fens;", "A servile race in folly nursed,", "Who truckle most when treated worst.", "By innocence and resolution,", "He bore continual persecution;", "While numbers to preferment rose,", "Whose merits were, to be his foes;", "When ev'n his own familiar friends,", "Intent upon their private ends,", "Like renegadoes now he feels,", "Against him lifting up their heels.", "The Dean did by his pen defeat", "An infamous destructive cheat;", "Taught fools their int'rest how to know,", "And gave them arms to ward the blow.", "Envy has owned it was his doing,", "To save that hapless land from ruin;", "While they who at the steerage stood,", "And reaped the profit, sought his blood.", "To save them from their evil fate,", "In him was held a crime of state.", "A wicked monster on the bench,", "Whose fury blood could never quench", "- As vile and profligate a villain", "As modern Scroggs, or old Tresilian;", "Who long all justice had discarded,", "Nor feared he God, nor man regarded -", "Vowed on the Dean his rage to vent,", "And make him of his zeal repent.", "But Heaven his innocence defends,", "The grateful people stand his friends:", "Not strains of law, nor judge's frown,", "Nor topics brought to please the crown,", "Nor witness hired, nor jury picked,", "Prevail to bring him in convict.", "In exile, with a steady heart,", "He spent his life's declining part;", "Where folly, pride, and faction sway,", "Remote from St John, Pope, and Gay.", "Alas, poor Dean! his only scope", "Was to be held a misanthrope.", "This into gen'ral odium drew him,", "Which, if he liked, much good may't do him.", "His zeal was not to lash our crimes,", "But discontent against the times;", "For had we made him timely offers", "To raise his post, or fill his coffers,", "Perhaps he might have truckled down,", "Like other brethren of his gown.", "For party he would scarce have bled -", "I say no more, because he's dead.", "What writings has he left behind?", "I hear they're of a different kind:", "A few in verse, but most in prose,", "- Some high-flown pamphlets, I suppose -", "All scribbled in the worst of times,", "To palliate his friend Oxford's crimes,", "To praise Queen Anne, nay more, defend her,", "As never fav'ring the Pretender;", "Or libels yet concealed from sight,", "Against the court to show his spite;", "Perhaps his Travels, part the third,", "A lie at every second word,", "Offensive to a loyal ear;", "But not one sermon, you may swear.\"", "", "\"His friendships there, to few confined,", "Were always of the middling kind:", "No fools of rank, a mongrel breed,", "Who fain would pass for lords indeed.", "Where titles give no right or power,", "And peerage is a withered flower,", "He would have held it a disgrace", "If such a wretch had known his face.", "On rural squires, that kingdom's bane,", "He vented oft his wrath in vain;", "[Biennial] squires to market brought,", "Who sell their souls and [votes] for nought;", "The [nation stripped,] go joyful back,", "To [rob the] church, their tenants rack,", "Go snacks with [rogues and rapparees,]", "And keep the peace to pick up fees;", "In every job to have a share,", "A goal or barrack to repair;", "And turn the tax for public roads", "Commodious to their own abodes.\"", "\"Perhaps I may allow the Dean", "Had too much satire in his vein,", "And seemed determined not to starve it,", "Because no age could more deserve it.", "Yet malice never was his aim;", "He lashed the vice, but spared the name;", "No individual could resent", "Where thousands equally were meant.", "His satire points at no defect", "But what all mortals may correct;", "For he abhorred that senseless tribe", "Who call it humour when they gibe.", "He spared a hump, or crooked nose,", "Whose owners set not up for beaux.", "True genuine dulness moved his pity,", "Unless it offered to be witty.", "Those who their ignornace confessed", "He ne'er offended with a jest;", "But laughed to hear an idiot quote", "A verse from Horace learned by rote.", "Vice, if it e'er can be abashed,", "Must be or ridiculed or lashed.", "If you resent it, who's to blame?", "He neither knew you nor your name.", "Should vice expect to 'scape rebuke,", "Because its owner is a duke?\"", "\"He knew an hundred pleasant stories,", "With all the turns of Whigs and Tories;", "Was cheerful to his dying day,", "And friends would let him have his way.\"", "\"He gave what little wealth he had", "To build a house for fools and mad;", "And showed by one satiric touch,", "No nation wanted it so much.", "That kingdom he hath left his debtor,", "I wish it soon may have a better.\"", "And since you dread no further lashes,", "Methinks you may forgive his ashes." ], "linecount": "545" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 82. I wage not any feud with death", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "I wage not any feud with Death", "For changes wrought on form and face;", "No lower life that earth's embrace", "May breed with him, can fright my faith.", "Eternal process moving on,", "From state to state the spirit walks;", "And these are but the shatter'd stalks,", "Or ruin'd chrysalis of one.", "Nor blame I Death, because he bare", "The use of virtue out of earth:", "I know transplanted human worth", "Will bloom to profit, otherwhere.", "", "For this alone on Death I wreak", "The wrath that garners in my heart;", "He put our lives so far apart", "We cannot hear each other speak." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "In Memoriam 82: I Wage Not Any Feud With Death", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "I wage not any feud with Death", "For changes wrought on form and face;", "No lower life that earth's embrace", "May breed with him, can fright my faith.", "", "Eternal process moving on,", "From state to state the spirit walks;", "And these are but the shatter'd stalks,", "Or ruin'd chrysalis of one.", "", "Nor blame I Death, because he bare", "The use of virtue out of earth:", "I know transplanted human worth", "Will bloom to profit, otherwhere.", "", "For this alone on Death I wreak", "The wrath that garners in my heart;", "He put our lives so far apart", "We cannot hear each other speak." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "An Elegy on the Death of Montgomery Tappen", "author": "Major Henry Livingston, Jr.", "lines": [ "An elegy on the death of MONTGOMERY TAPPEN who dies at Poughkeepsie on the 20th of Nov. 1784 in the ninth year of his age.", "", "", "The sweetest, gentlest, of the youthful train,", "Here lies his clay cold upon the sable bier!", "He scarce had started on life's varied plain,", "For dreary death arrested his career.", "", "His cheek might vie with the expanded rose,", "And Genius sparkled in his azure eyes!", "A victim so unblemish'd Heaven chose,", "And bore the beauteous lambkin to the skies.", "", "Adieu thou loveliest child! Adieu adieu!", "Our wishes fain would follow thee on high.", "What more can friendship - what more fondness do,", "But drop the unbidden tear & heave the sigh?", "", "Ye youths whose ardent bosoms virtue fires,", "Who eager wish applause and pant for fame,", "Press round MONTGOMERY'S hearse, the NAME inspires", "And lights in kindred souls its native flame.", "", "COLUMBIA grateful hails the tender sound", "And when MONTGOMERY'S nam'd still drops a tear,", "From shore to shore to earth's remotest bound", "Where LIBERTY is known that NAME is dear." ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "Elegy on the Death of Lady Middleton", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "THE knell of death, that on the twilight gale,", "Swells its deep murmur to the pensive ear;", "In awful sounds repeats a mournful tale,", "And claims the tribute of a tender tear.", "", "The dreadful hour is past ! the mandate giv'n!", "The gentle MIDDLETON shall breathe no more,", "Yet who shall blame the wise decrees of Heaven,", "Or the dark mysteries of Fate explore?", "", "No more her converse shall delight the heart;", "No more her smile benign spread pleasure round;", "No more her liberal bosom shall impart", "The balm of pity to Affliction's wound.", "", "Her soul above the pride of noble birth,", "Above the praises of an empty name,", "By graceful MEEKNESS mark'd superior worth,", "By peerless VIRTUES claim'd the fairest fame,", "", "Nor did those Virtues flaunt their innate rays,", "To court applause, or charm the vulgar throng,", "No ostentatious glare illum'd her days,", "No idle boast escap'd her tuneful tongue.", "", "When FAME, ambitious to record her praise,", "On glitt'ring pinions spread her name afar,", "Her gentle nature shunn'd the dazzling blaze,", "Mild as the lustre of the morning star!", "", "DIVINE BENEVOLENCE around her shone!", "The chastest manners spoke her spotless mind;", "That Pow'r who gave now claims her for his own,", "Pure as the cherub she has left behind.", "", "As round her couch the winged darts of death", "Reluctant flew from Fate's unerring bow,", "Immortal angels claim'd her quivering breath,", "And snatch'd her spirit from a world of woe.", "", "Calm resignation smil'd upon her cheek,", "And HOPE'S refulgent beam illum'd her eye;", "While FAITH, celestial VIRTUE'S handmaid meek,", "On wings of seraphs bore her to the sky.", "", "Ye poor, who from her gen'rous bounty fed;", "Oh! to HER mem'ry give the fame that's due;", "For oft, from pleasure's blithe meanders led,", "Her pensive bosom felt a pang for YOU.", "", "Yet, cease to mourn a sainted Spirit gone", "To seek its resting place, beyond the skies;", "Where 'midst the glories of TH' ETERNAL's throne,", "She tastes celestial bliss THAT NEVER DIES!" ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "An Elegy On The Death Of A Mad Dog", "author": "Oliver Goldsmith", "lines": [ "Good people all, of every sort,", "Give ear unto my song;", "And if you find it wondrous short,", "It cannot hold you long.", "", "In Islington there was a man", "Of whom the world might say,", "That still a godly race he ran—", "Whene'er he went to pray.", "", "A kind and gentle heart he had,", "To comfort friends and foes;", "The naked every day he clad—", "When he put on his clothes.", "", "And in that town a dog was found,", "As many dogs there be,", "Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,", "And curs of low degree.", "", "This dog and man at first were friends;", "But when a pique began,", "The dog, to gain some private ends,", "Went mad, and bit the man.", "", "Around from all the neighbouring streets", "The wond'ring neighbours ran,", "And swore the dog had lost its wits", "To bite so good a man.", "", "The wound it seemed both sore and sad", "To every Christian eye;", "And while they swore the dog was mad,", "They swore the man would die.", "", "But soon a wonder came to light", "That showed the rogues they lied,—", "The man recovered of the bite,", "The dog it was that died!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade", "The hand of Death, and your dear daughter", "laid", "In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,", "And racks your bosom with incessant woe,", "Let Recollection take a tender part,", "Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,", "Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,", "And pour the heav'nly nectar of relief:", "Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,", "Divinely bright your daughter's Virtues shone:", "How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,", "Which ne'er its aid to indigence declin'd!", "Expanding free, it sought the means to prove", "Unfailing charity, unbounded love!", "She unreluctant flies to see no more", "Her dear-lov'd parents on earth's dusky shore:", "Impatient heav'n's resplendent goal to gain,", "She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,", "Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,", "And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;", "She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,", "Where new creations feast her wond'ring eyes.", "To heav'n's high mandate cheerfully resign'd", "She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;", "She, who late wish'd that Leonard might return,", "Has ceas'd to languish, and forgot to mourn;", "To the same high empyreal mansions come,", "She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:", "And thus I hear her from the realms above:", "\"Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!", "\"Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,", "\"How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?", "\"Amidst unutter'd pleasures whilst I play", "\"In the fair sunshine of celestial day,", "\"As far as grief affects an happy soul", "\"So far doth grief my better mind controul,", "\"To see on earth my aged parents mourn,", "\"And secret wish for T-----! to return:", "\"Let brighter scenes your ev'ning-hours employ:", "\"Converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy\"" ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "A Funeral Poem on the Death of C.E.", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "Through airy roads he wings his instant flight", "To purer regions of celestial light;", "Enlarg'd he sees unnumber'd systems roll,", "Beneath him sees the universal whole,", "Planets on planets run their destin'd round,", "And circling wonders fill the vast profound.", "Th' ethereal now, and now th' empyreal skies", "With growing splendors strike his wond'ring eyes:", "The angels view him with delight unknown,", "Press his soft hand, and seat him on his throne;", "Then smilling thus: \"To this divine abode,", "\"The seat of saints, of seraphs, and of God,", "\"Thrice welcome thou.\" The raptur'd babe replies,", "\"Thanks to my God, who snatch'd me to the skies,", "\"E'er vice triumphant had possess'd my heart,", "\"E'er yet the tempter had beguil'd my heart,", "\"E'er yet on sin's base actions I was bent,", "\"E'er yet I knew temptation's dire intent;", "\"E'er yet the lash for horrid crimes I felt,", "\"E'er vanity had led my way to guilt,", "\"But, soon arriv'd at my celestial goal,", "\"Full glories rush on my expanding soul.\"", "Joyful he spoke: exulting cherubs round", "Clapt their glad wings, the heav'nly vaults resound.", "Say, parents, why this unavailing moan?", "Why heave your pensive bosoms with the groan?", "To Charles, the happy subject of my song,", "A brighter world, and nobler strains belong.", "Say would you tear him from the realms above", "", "By thoughtless wishes, and prepost'rous love?", "Doth his felicity increase your pain?", "Or could you welcome to this world again", "The heir of bliss? with a superior air", "Methinks he answers with a smile severe,", "\"Thrones and dominions cannot tempt me there.\"", "", "But still you cry, \"Can we the sigh forbear,", "\"And still and still must we not pour the tear?", "\"Our only hope, more dear than vital breath,", "\"Twelve moons revolv'd, becomes the prey of death;", "", "\"Delightful infant, nightly visions give", "\"Thee to our arms, and we with joy receive,", "\"We fain would clasp the Phantom to our breast,", "\"The Phantom flies, and leaves the soul unblest.\"", "", "To yon bright regions let your faith ascend,", "Prepare to join your dearest infant friend", "In pleasures without measure, without end." ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "On Death's domain intent I fix my eyes,", "Where human nature in vast ruin lies,", "With pensive mind I search the drear abode,", "Where the great conqu'ror has his spoils bestow'd;", "There there the offspring of six thousand years", "In endless numbers to my view appears:", "Whole kingdoms in his gloomy den are thrust,", "And nations mix with their primeval dust:", "Insatiate still he gluts the ample tomb;", "His is the present, his the age to come", "See here a brother, here a sister spread,", "And a sweet daughter mingled with the dead.", "", "But, Madam, let your grief be laid aside,", "And let the fountain of your tears be dry'd,", "In vain they flow to wet the dusty plain,", "Your sighs are wafted to the skies in vain,", "Your pains they witness, but they can no more,", "While Death reigns tyrant o'er this mortal shore.", "", "The glowing stars and silver queen of light", "At last must perish in the gloom of night:", "Resign thy friends to that Almighty hand,", "Which gave them life, and bow to his command;", "Thine Avis give without a murm'ring heart,", "Though half thy soul be fated to depart.", "To shining guards consign thine infant care", "To waft triumphant through the seas of air:", "Her soul enlarg'd to heav'nly pleasure springs,", "She feeds on truth and uncreated things.", "Methinks I hear her in the realms above,", "And leaning forward with a filial love,", "Invite you there to share immortal bliss", "Unknown, untasted in a state like this.", "With tow'ring hopes, and growing grace arise,", "And seek beatitude beyond the skies." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "Ere yet the morn its lovely blushes spread,", "See Sewell number'd with the happy dead.", "Hail, holy man, arriv'd th' immortal shore,", "Though we shall hear thy warning voice no more.", "Come, let us all behold with wishful eyes", "The saint ascending to his native skies;", "From hence the prophet wing'd his rapt'rous way", "To the blest mansions in eternal day.", "Then begging for the Spirit of our God,", "", "And panting eager for the same abode,", "Come, let us all with the same vigour rise,", "And take a prospect of the blissful skies;", "While on our minds Christ's image is imprest,", "And the dear Saviour glows in ev'ry breast.", "Thrice happy faint! to find thy heav'n at last,", "What compensation for the evils past!", "Great God, incomprehensible, unknown", "By sense, we bow at thine exalted throne.", "O, while we beg thine excellence to feel,", "", "Thy sacred Spirit to our hearts reveal,", "And give us of that mercy to partake,", "Which thou hast promis'd for the Saviour's sake!", "\"Sewell is dead.\" Swift-pinion'd Fame thus cry'd.", "\"Is Sewell dead,\" my trembling tongue reply'd,", "O what a blessing in his flight deny'd!", "How oft for us the holy prophet pray'd!", "How oft to us the Word of Life convey'd!", "By duty urg'd my mournful verse to close,", "I for his tomb this epitaph compose.", "", "\"Lo, here a man, redeem'd by Jesus's blood,", "\"A sinner once, but now a saint with God;", "\"Behold ye rich, ye poor, ye fools, ye wise,", "\"Not let his monument your heart surprise;", "\"Twill tell you what this holy man has done,", "\"Which gives him brighter lustre than the sun.", "\"Listen, ye happy, from your seats above.", "\"I speak sincerely, while I speak and love,", "\"He sought the paths of piety and truth,", "\"By these made happy from his early youth;", "", "\"In blooming years that grace divine he felt,", "\"Which rescues sinners from the chains of guilt.", "\"Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed,", "\"And henceforth seek, like him, for living bread;", "\"Ev'n Christ, the bread descending from above,", "\"And ask an int'rest in his saving love.", "\"Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told", "\"God's gracious wonders from the times of old.", "\"I too have cause this mighty loss to mourn,", "\"For he my monitor will not return.", "", "\"O when shall we to his blest state arrive?", "\"When the same graces in our bosoms thrive.\"" ], "linecount": "51" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of The Three Relations", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WE trace the pow'r of Death from tomb to tomb,", "And his are all the ages yet to come.", "'Tis his to call the planets from on high,", "To blacken Phoebus, and dissolve the sky;", "His too, when all in his dark realms are hurl'd,", "From its firm base to shake the solid world;", "His fatal sceptre rules the spacious whole,", "And trembling nature rocks from pole to pole.", "Awful he moves, and wide his wings are spread:", "Behold thy brother number'd with the dead!", "From bondage freed, the exulting spirit flies", "Beyond Olympus, and these starry skies.", "Lost in our woe for thee, blest shade, we mourn", "In vain; to earth thou never must return.", "Thy sisters too, fair mourner, feel the dart", "Of Death, and with fresh torture rend thine heart.", "Weep not for them, and leave the world behind.", "As a young plant by hurricanes up torn,", "So near its parent lies the newly born--", "But 'midst the bright ehtereal train behold", "It shines superior on a throne of gold:", "Then, mourner, cease; let hope thy tears restrain,", "Smile on the tomb, and sooth the raging pain.", "On yon blest regions fix thy longing view,", "Mindless of sublunary scenes below;", "Ascend the sacred mount, in thought arise,", "And seek substantial and immortal joys;", "Where hope receives, where faith to vision springs,", "And raptur'd seraphs tune th' immortal strings", "To strains extatic. Thou the chorus join,", "And to thy father tune the praise divine." ], "linecount": "31" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of Her Husband", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "GRIM monarch! see, depriv'd of vital breath,", "A young physician in the dust of death:", "Dost thou go on incessant to destroy,", "Our griefs to double, and lay waste our joy?", "Enough thou never yet wast known to say,", "Though millions die, the vassals of thy sway:", "Nor youth, nor science, not the ties of love,", "Nor ought on earth thy flinty heart can move.", "The friend, the spouse from his dire dart to save,", "In vain we ask the sovereign of the grave.", "Fair mourner, there see thy lov'd Leonard laid,", "And o'er him spread the deep impervious shade.", "Clos'd are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep", "His senses bound in never-waking sleep,", "Till time shall cease, till many a starry world", "Shall fall from heav'n, in dire confusion hurl'd", "Till nature in her final wreck shall lie,", "And her last groan shall rend the azure sky:", "Not, not till then his active soul shall claim", "His body, a divine immortal frame.", "But see the softly-stealing tears apace", "Pursue each other down the mourner's face;", "But cease thy tears, bid ev'ry sigh depart,", "And cast the load of anguish from thine heart:", "From the cold shell of his great soul arise,", "And look beyond, thou native of the skies;", "There fix thy view, where fleeter than the wind", "Thy Leonard mounts, and leaves the earth behind.", "Thyself prepare to pass the vale of night", "To join for ever on the hills of light:", "To thine embrace this joyful spirit moves", "To thee, the partner of his earthly loves;", "He welcomes thee to pleasures more refin'd,", "And better suited to th' immortal mind." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "On The Death Of J. C. An Infant", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "NO more the flow'ry scenes of pleasure rife,", "Nor charming prospects greet the mental eyes,", "No more with joy we view that lovely face", "Smiling, disportive, flush'd with ev'ry grace.", "The tear of sorrow flows from ev'ry eye,", "Groans answer groans, and sighs to sighs reply;", "What sudden pangs shot thro' each aching heart,", "When, Death, thy messenger dispatch'd his dart?", "Thy dread attendants, all-destroying Pow'r,", "Hurried the infant to his mortal hour.", "Could'st thou unpitying close those radiant eyes?", "Or fail'd his artless beauties to surprise?", "Could not his innocence thy stroke controul,", "Thy purpose shake, and soften all thy soul?", "The blooming babe, with shades of Death o'er-", "spread,", "No more shall smile, no more shall raise its head,", "But, like a branch that from the tree is torn,", "Falls prostrate, wither'd, languid, and forlorn.", "\"Where flies my James?\" 'tis thus I seem to hear", "The parent ask, \"Some angel tell me where", "\"He wings his passage thro' the yielding air?\"", "Methinks a cherub bending from the skies", "Observes the question, and serene replies,", "\"In heav'ns high palaces your babe appears:", "\"Prepare to meet him, and dismiss your tears.\"", "Shall not th' intelligence your grief restrain,", "And turn the mournful to the cheerful strain?", "Cease your complaints, suspend each rising sigh,", "Cease to accuse the Ruler of the sky.", "Parents, no more indulge the falling tear:", "Let Faith to heav'n's refulgent domes repair,", "There see your infant, like a seraph glow:", "What charms celestial in his numbers flow", "Melodious, while the foul-enchanting strain", "Dwells on his tongue, and fills th' ethereal plain?", "Enough--for ever cease your murm'ring breath;", "Not as a foe, but friend converse with Death,", "Since to the port of happiness unknown", "He brought that treasure which you call your own.", "The gift of heav'n intrusted to your hand", "Cheerful resign at the divine command:", "Not at your bar must sov'reign Wisdom stand." ], "linecount": "43" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The winds and waters are in his command,", "Held as a courser in the rider's hand.", "He lets them loose, they triumph at his will:", "He checks their course and all is calm and still.", "Life's hopes waste all to nothingness away", "As showers at night wash out the steps of day.", "", "The tyrant, in his lawless power deterred,", "Bows before death, tame as a broken sword.", "One dyeth in his strength and, torn from ease,", "Groans in death pangs like tempests in the trees.", "Another from the bitterness of clay", "Falls calm as storms drop on an autumn day,", "With noiseless speed as swift as summer light", "Death slays and keeps her weapons out of sight.", "", "The tyrants that do act the God in clay", "And for earth's glories throw the heavens away,", "Whose breath in power did like to thunder sear,", "When anger hurried on the heels of fear,", "Whose rage planned hosts of murders at a breath--", "Here in sound silence sheath their rage in death.", "", "Their feet, that crushed down freedom to its grave", "And felt the very earth they trod a slave,", "How quiet here they lie in death's cold arms", "Without the power to crush the feeble worms", "Who spite of all the dreadful fears they made", "Creep there to conquer and are not afraid." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "The Death of Calmar and Orla. an Imitation of MacPherson's \"Ossian\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Dear are the days of youth! Age dwells on their remembrance through the", "mist of time. In the twilight he recalls the sunny hours of morn. He", "lifts his spear with trembling hand. \"Not thus feebly did I raise the", "steel before my fathers!\" Past is the race of heroes! But their fame", "rises on the harp; their souls ride on the wings of the wind; they hear", "the sound through the sighs of the storm, and rejoice in their hall of", "clouds. Such is Calmar. The grey stone marks his narrow house. He looks", "down from eddying tempests: he rolls his form in the whirlwind, and", "hovers on the blast of the mountain.", "", "In Morven dwelt the Chief; a beam of war to Fingal. His steps in the", "field were marked in blood. Lochlin's sons had fled before his angry", "spear; but mild was the eye of Calmar; soft was the flow of his", "yellow locks: they streamed like the meteor of the night. No maid was", "the sigh of his soul: his thoughts were given to friendship,--to", "dark-haired Orla, destroyer of heroes! Equal were their swords in", "battle; but fierce was the pride of Orla:--gentle alone to Calmar.", "Together they dwelt in the cave of Oithona.", "", "From Lochlin, Swaran bounded o'er the blue waves. Erin's sons fell", "beneath his might. Fingal roused his chiefs to combat. Their ships", "cover the ocean! Their hosts throng on the green hills. They come to the", "aid of Erin.", "", "Night rose in clouds. Darkness veils the armies. But the blazing oaks", "gleam through the valley. The sons of Lochlin slept: their dreams", "were of blood. They lift the spear in thought, and Fingal flies. Not so", "the Host of Morven. To watch was the post of Orla. Calmar stood by his", "side. Their spears were in their hands. Fingal called his chiefs: they", "stood around. The king was in the midst. Grey were his locks, but strong", "was the arm of the king. Age withered not his powers. \"Sons of Morven,\"", "said the hero, \"to-morrow we meet the foe. But where is Cuthullin, the", "shield of Erin? He rests in the halls of Tura; he knows not of our", "coming. Who will speed through Lochlin, to the hero, and call the chief", "to arms? The path is by the swords of foes; but many are my heroes. They", "are thunderbolts of war. Speak, ye chiefs! Who will arise?\"", "", "\"Son of Trenmor! mine be the deed,\" said dark-haired Orla, \"and mine", "alone. What is death to me? I love the sleep of the mighty, but little", "is the danger. The sons of Lochlin dream. I will seek car-borne", "Cuthullin. If I fall, raise the song of bards; and lay me by the stream", "of Lubar.\"--\"And shalt thou fall alone?\" said fair-haired Calmar. \"Wilt", "thou leave thy friend afar? Chief of Oithona! not feeble is my arm in", "fight. Could I see thee die, and not lift the spear? No, Orla! ours has", "been the chase of the roebuck, and the feast of shells; ours be the path", "of danger: ours has been the cave of Oithona; ours be the narrow", "dwelling on the banks of Lubar.\"--\"Calmar,\" said the chief of Oithona,", "\"why should thy yellow locks be darkened in the dust of Erin? Let me", "fall alone. My father dwells in his hall of air: he will rejoice in his", "boy; but the blue-eyed Mora spreads the feast for her Son in Morven. She", "listens to the steps of the hunter on the heath, and thinks it is the", "tread of Calmar. Let her not say, 'Calmar has fallen by the steel of", "Lochlin: he died with gloomy Orla, the chief of the dark brow.' Why", "should tears dim the azure eye of Mora? Why should her voice curse Orla,", "the destroyer of Calmar? Live Calmar! Live to raise my stone of moss;", "live to revenge me in the blood of Lochlin. Join the song of bards above", "my grave. Sweet will be the song of Death to Orla, from the voice of", "Calmar. My ghost shall smile on the notes of Praise.\" \"Orla,\" said the", "son of Mora, \"could I raise the song of Death to my friend? Could I give", "his fame to the winds? No, my heart would speak in sighs: faint and", "broken are the sounds of sorrow. Orla! our souls shall hear the song", "together. One cloud shall be ours on high: the bards will mingle the", "names of Orla and Calmar.\"", "", "They quit the circle of the Chiefs. Their steps are to the Host of", "Lochlin. The dying blaze of oak dim-twinkles through the night. The", "northern star points the path to Tura. Swaran, the King, rests on his", "lonely hill. Here the troops are mixed: they frown in sleep; their", "shields beneath their heads. Their swords gleam, at distance in heaps.", "The fires are faint; their embers fail in smoke. All is hushed; but the", "gale sighs on the rocks above. Lightly wheel the Heroes through the", "slumbering band. Half the journey is past, when Mathon, resting on his", "shield, meets the eye of Orla. It rolls in flame, and glistens through", "the shade. His spear is raised on high. \"Why dost thou bend thy brow,", "chief of Oithona?\" said fair-haired Calmar: \"we are in the midst of", "foes. Is this a time for delay?\" \"It is a time for vengeance,\" said Orla", "of the gloomy brow. \"Mathon of Lochlin sleeps: seest thou his spear? Its", "point is dim with the gore of my father. The blood of Mathon shall reek", "on mine: but shall I slay him sleeping, Son of Mora? No! he shall feel", "his wound: my fame shall not soar on the blood of slumber. Rise, Mathon,", "rise! The Son of Conna calls; thy life is his; rise to combat.\" Mathon", "starts from sleep: but did he rise alone? No: the gathering Chiefs bound", "on the plain. \"Fly! Calmar, fly!\" said dark-haired Orla. \"Mathon is", "mine. I shall die in joy: but Lochlin crowds around. Fly through the", "shade of night.\" Orla turns. The helm of Mathon is cleft; his shield", "falls from his arm: he shudders in his blood. He rolls by the side", "of the blazing oak. Strumon sees him fall: his wrath rises: his weapon", "glitters on the head of Orla: but a spear pierced his eye. His brain", "gushes through the wound, and foams on the spear of Calmar. As roll the", "waves of the Ocean on two mighty barks of the North, so pour the men of", "Lochlin on the Chiefs. As, breaking the surge in foam, proudly steer the", "barks of the North, so rise the Chiefs of Morven on the scattered crests", "of Lochlin. The din of arms came to the ear of Fingal. He strikes his", "shield; his sons throng around; the people pour along the heath. Ryno", "bounds in joy. Ossian stalks in his arms. Oscar shakes the spear. The", "eagle wing of Fillan floats on the wind. Dreadful is the clang of death!", "many are the Widows of Lochlin. Morven prevails in its strength.", "", "Morn glimmers on the hills: no living foe is seen; but the sleepers are", "many; grim they lie on Erin. The breeze of Ocean lifts their locks; yet", "they do not awake. The hawks scream above their prey.", "", "Whose yellow locks wave o'er the breast of a chief? Bright as the gold", "of the stranger, they mingle with the dark hair of his friend. 'Tis", "Calmar: he lies on the bosom of Orla. Theirs is one stream of blood.", "Fierce is the look of the gloomy Orla. He breathes not; but his eye is", "still a flame. It glares in death unclosed. His hand is grasped in", "Calmar's; but Calmar lives! he lives, though low. \"Rise,\" said the king,", "\"rise, son of Mora: 'tis mine to heal the wounds of Heroes. Calmar may", "yet bound on the hills of Morven.\"", "", "\"Never more shall Calmar chase the deer of Morven with Orla,\" said the", "Hero. \"What were the chase to me alone? Who would share the spoils of", "battle with Calmar? Orla is at rest! Rough was thy soul, Orla! yet soft", "to me as the dew of morn. It glared on others in lightning: to me a", "silver beam of night. Bear my sword to blue-eyed Mora; let it hang in my", "empty hall. It is not pure from blood: but it could not save Orla. Lay", "me with my friend: raise the song when I am dark!\"", "", "They are laid by the stream of Lubar. Four grey stones mark the dwelling", "of Orla and Calmar. When Swaran was bound, our sails rose on the blue", "waves. The winds gave our barks to Morven:--the bards raised the song.", "", "\"What Form rises on the roar of clouds? Whose dark Ghost gleams on the", "red streams of tempests? His voice rolls on the thunder. 'Tis Orla, the", "brown Chief of Oithona. He was unmatched in war. Peace to thy soul,", "Orla! thy fame will not perish. Nor thine, Calmar! Lovely wast thou, son", "of blue-eyed Mora; but not harmless was thy sword. It hangs in thy cave.", "The Ghosts of Lochlin shriek around its steel. Hear thy praise, Calmar!", "It dwells on the voice of the mighty. Thy name shakes on the echoes of", "Morven. Then raise thy fair locks, son of Mora. Spread them on the arch", "of the rainbow, and smile through the tears of the storm." ], "linecount": "122" }, { "title": "Elegiac Stanzas on the Death of Sir Peter Parker, Bart", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "There is a tear for all that die,", " A mourner o'er the humblest grave;", "But nations swell the funeral cry,", " And Triumph weeps above the brave.", "", "For them is Sorrow's purest sigh", " O'er Ocean's heaving bosom sent:", "In vain their bones unburied lie,", " All earth becomes their monument!", "", "A tomb is theirs on every page,", " An epitaph on every tongue:", "The present hours, the future age,", " For them bewail, to them belong.", "", "For them the voice of festal mirth", " Grows hushed, _their name_ the only sound;", "While deep Remembrance pours to Worth", " The goblet's tributary round.", "", "A theme to crowds that knew them not,", " Lamented by admiring foes,", "Who would not share their glorious lot?", " Who would not die the death they chose?", "", "And, gallant Parker! thus enshrined", " Thy life, thy fall, thy fame shall be;", "And early valour, glowing, find", " A model in thy memory.", "", "But there are breasts that bleed with thee", " In woe, that glory cannot quell;", "And shuddering hear of victory,", " Where one so dear, so dauntless, fell.", "", "Where shall they turn to mourn thee less?", " When cease to hear thy cherished name?", "Time cannot teach forgetfulness,", " While Grief's full heart is fed by Fame.", "", "Alas! for them, though not for thee,", " They cannot choose but weep the more;", "Deep for the dead the grief must be,", " Who ne'er gave cause to mourn before." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Love and Death", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "I WATCHED thee when the foe was at our side,", " Ready to strike at him--or thee and me.", "Were safety hopeless--rather than divide", " Aught with one loved save love and liberty.", "", "I watched thee on the breakers, when the rock", " Received our prow and all was storm and fear,", "And bade thee cling to me through every shock;", " This arm would be thy bark, or breast thy bier.", "", "I watched thee when the fever glazed thine eyes,", " Yielding my couch and stretched me on the ground,", "When overworn with watching, ne'er to rise", " From thence if thou an early grave hadst found.", "", "The earthquake came, and rocked the quivering wall,", " And men and nature reeled as if with wine.", "Whom did I seek around the tottering hall?", " For thee. Whose safety first provide for? Thine.", "", "And when convulsive throes denied my breath", " The faintest utterance to my fading thought,", "To thee--to thee--e'en in the gasp of death", " My spirit turned, oh! oftener than it ought.", "", "Thus much and more; and yet thou lov'st me not,", " And never wilt! Love dwells not in our will.", "Nor can I blame thee, though it be my lot", " To strongly, wrongly, vainly love thee still." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "177. Elegy on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE LAMP of day, with-ill presaging glare,", " Dim, cloudy, sank beneath the western wave;", "Th’ inconstant blast howl’d thro’ the dark’ning air,", " And hollow whistled in the rocky cave.", "", "", "Lone as I wander’d by each cliff and dell,", " Once the lov’d haunts of Scotia’s royal train; 1", "Or mus’d where limpid streams, once hallow’d well, 2", " Or mould’ring ruins mark the sacred fane. 3", "", "", "Th’ increasing blast roar’d round the beetling rocks,", " The clouds swift-wing’d flew o’er the starry sky,", "The groaning trees untimely shed their locks,", " And shooting meteors caught the startled eye.", "", "", "The paly moon rose in the livid east.", " And ’mong the cliffs disclos’d a stately form", "In weeds of woe, that frantic beat her breast,", " And mix’d her wailings with the raving storm", "", "", "Wild to my heart the filial pulses glow,", " ’Twas Caledonia’s trophied shield I view’d:", "Her form majestic droop’d in pensive woe,", " The lightning of her eye in tears imbued.", "", "", "Revers’d that spear, redoubtable in war,", " Reclined that banner, erst in fields unfurl’d,", "That like a deathful meteor gleam’d afar,", " And brav’d the mighty monarchs of the world.", "", "", "“My patriot son fills an untimely grave!”", " With accents wild and lifted arms—she cried;", "“Low lies the hand oft was stretch’d to save,", " Low lies the heart that swell’d with honest pride.", "", "", "“A weeping country joins a widow’s tear;", " The helpless poor mix with the orphan’s cry;", "The drooping arts surround their patron’s bier;", " And grateful science heaves the heartfelt sigh!", "", "", "“I saw my sons resume their ancient fire;", " I saw fair Freedom’s blossoms richly blow:", "But ah! how hope is born but to expire!", " Relentless fate has laid their guardian low.", "", "", "“My patriot falls: but shall he lie unsung,", " While empty greatness saves a worthless name?", "No; every muse shall join her tuneful tongue,", " And future ages hear his growing fame.", "", "", "“And I will join a mother’s tender cares,", " Thro’ future times to make his virtues last;", "That distant years may boast of other Blairs!”—", " She said, and vanish’d with the sweeping blast.", "", "", " Note 1. The King’s Park at Holyrood House.—R. B. [back]", "Note 2. St. Anthony’s well.—R. B. [back]", "Note 3. St. Anthony’s Chapel.—R. B. [back]" ], "linecount": "47" }, { "title": "19. A Prayer in the Prospect of Death", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "O THOU unknown, Almighty Cause", " Of all my hope and fear!", "In whose dread presence, ere an hour,", " Perhaps I must appear!", "", "", "If I have wander’d in those paths", " Of life I ought to shun,", "As something, loudly, in my breast,", " Remonstrates I have done;", "", "", "Thou know’st that Thou hast formed me", " With passions wild and strong;", "And list’ning to their witching voice", " Has often led me wrong.", "", "", "Where human weakness has come short,", " Or frailty stept aside,", "Do Thou, All-Good-for such Thou art—", " In shades of darkness hide.", "", "", "Where with intention I have err’d,", " No other plea I have,", "But, Thou art good; and Goodness still", " Delighteth to forgive." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "59. Death and Dr. Hornbook", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "SOME books are lies frae end to end,", "And some great lies were never penn’d:", "Ev’n ministers they hae been kenn’d,", " In holy rapture,", "A rousing whid at times to vend,", " And nail’t wi’ Scripture.", "", "", "But this that I am gaun to tell,", "Which lately on a night befell,", "Is just as true’s the Deil’s in hell", " Or Dublin city:", "That e’er he nearer comes oursel’", " ’S a muckle pity.", "", "", "The clachan yill had made me canty,", "I was na fou, but just had plenty;", "I stacher’d whiles, but yet too tent aye", " To free the ditches;", "An’ hillocks, stanes, an’ bushes, kenn’d eye", " Frae ghaists an’ witches.", "", "", "The rising moon began to glowre", "The distant Cumnock hills out-owre:", "To count her horns, wi’ a my pow’r,", " I set mysel’;", "But whether she had three or four,", " I cou’d na tell.", "", "", "I was come round about the hill,", "An’ todlin down on Willie’s mill,", "Setting my staff wi’ a’ my skill,", " To keep me sicker;", "Tho’ leeward whiles, against my will,", " I took a bicker.", "", "", "I there wi’ Something did forgather,", "That pat me in an eerie swither;", "An’ awfu’ scythe, out-owre ae shouther,", " Clear-dangling, hang;", "A three-tae’d leister on the ither", " Lay, large an’ lang.", "", "", "Its stature seem’d lang Scotch ells twa,", "The queerest shape that e’er I saw,", "For fient a wame it had ava;", " And then its shanks,", "They were as thin, as sharp an’ sma’", " As cheeks o’ branks.", "", "", "“Guid-een,” quo’ I; “Friend! hae ye been mawin,", "When ither folk are busy sawin!” 1", "I seem’d to make a kind o’ stan’", " But naething spak;", "At length, says I, “Friend! whare ye gaun?", " Will ye go back?”", "", "", "It spak right howe,—“My name is Death,", "But be na fley’d.”—Quoth I, “Guid faith,", "Ye’re maybe come to stap my breath;", " But tent me, billie;", "I red ye weel, tak care o’ skaith", " See, there’s a gully!”", "", "", "“Gudeman,” quo’ he, “put up your whittle,", "I’m no designed to try its mettle;", "But if I did, I wad be kittle", " To be mislear’d;", "I wad na mind it, no that spittle", " Out-owre my beard.”", "", "", "“Weel, weel!” says I, “a bargain be’t;", "Come, gie’s your hand, an’ sae we’re gree’t;", "We’ll ease our shanks an tak a seat—", " Come, gie’s your news;", "This while ye hae been mony a gate,", " At mony a house.” 2", "", "", "“Ay, ay!” quo’ he, an’ shook his head,", "“It’s e’en a lang, lang time indeed", "Sin’ I began to nick the thread,", " An’ choke the breath:", "Folk maun do something for their bread,", " An’ sae maun Death.", "", "", "“Sax thousand years are near-hand fled", "Sin’ I was to the butching bred,", "An’ mony a scheme in vain’s been laid,", " To stap or scar me;", "Till ane Hornbook’s 3 ta’en up the trade,", " And faith! he’ll waur me.", "", "", "“Ye ken Hornbook i’ the clachan,", "Deil mak his king’s-hood in spleuchan!", "He’s grown sae weel acquaint wi’ Buchan 4", " And ither chaps,", "The weans haud out their fingers laughin,", " An’ pouk my hips.", "", "", "“See, here’s a scythe, an’ there’s dart,", "They hae pierc’d mony a gallant heart;", "But Doctor Hornbook, wi’ his art", " An’ cursed skill,", "Has made them baith no worth a f—t,", " D—n’d haet they’ll kill!", "", "", "“’Twas but yestreen, nae farther gane,", "I threw a noble throw at ane;", "Wi’ less, I’m sure, I’ve hundreds slain;", "But deil-ma-care,", "It just play’d dirl on the bane,", "But did nae mair.", "", "", "“Hornbook was by, wi’ ready art,", "An’ had sae fortify’d the part,", "That when I looked to my dart,", " It was sae blunt,", "Fient haet o’t wad hae pierc’d the heart", " Of a kail-runt.", "", "", "“I drew my scythe in sic a fury,", "I near-hand cowpit wi’ my hurry,", "But yet the bauld Apothecary", " Withstood the shock;", "I might as weel hae tried a quarry", " O’ hard whin rock.", "", "", "“Ev’n them he canna get attended,", "Altho’ their face he ne’er had kend it,", "Just —— in a kail-blade, an’ sent it,", " As soon’s he smells ’t,", "Baith their disease, and what will mend it,", " At once he tells ’t.", "", "", "“And then, a’ doctor’s saws an’ whittles,", "Of a’ dimensions, shapes, an’ mettles,", "A’ kind o’ boxes, mugs, an’ bottles,", " He’s sure to hae;", "Their Latin names as fast he rattles", " As A B C.", "", "", "“Calces o’ fossils, earths, and trees;", "True sal-marinum o’ the seas;", "The farina of beans an’ pease,", " He has’t in plenty;", "Aqua-fontis, what you please,", " He can content ye.", "", "", "“Forbye some new, uncommon weapons,", "Urinus spiritus of capons;", "Or mite-horn shavings, filings, scrapings,", " Distill’d per se;", "Sal-alkali o’ midge-tail clippings,", " And mony mae.”", "", "", "“Waes me for Johnie Ged’s-Hole 5 now,”", "Quoth I, “if that thae news be true!", "His braw calf-ward whare gowans grew,", " Sae white and bonie,", "Nae doubt they’ll rive it wi’ the plew;", " They’ll ruin Johnie!”", "", "", "The creature grain’d an eldritch laugh,", "And says “Ye needna yoke the pleugh,", "Kirkyards will soon be till’d eneugh,", " Tak ye nae fear:", "They’ll be trench’d wi’ mony a sheugh,", " In twa-three year.", "", "", "“Whare I kill’d ane, a fair strae-death,", "By loss o’ blood or want of breath", "This night I’m free to tak my aith,", " That Hornbook’s skill", "Has clad a score i’ their last claith,", " By drap an’ pill.", "", "", "“An honest wabster to his trade,", "Whase wife’s twa nieves were scarce weel-bred", "Gat tippence-worth to mend her head,", " When it was sair;", "The wife slade cannie to her bed,", " But ne’er spak mair.", "", "", "“A country laird had ta’en the batts,", "Or some curmurring in his guts,", "His only son for Hornbook sets,", " An’ pays him well:", "The lad, for twa guid gimmer-pets,", " Was laird himsel’.", "", "", "“A bonie lass—ye kend her name—", "Some ill-brewn drink had hov’d her wame;", "She trusts hersel’, to hide the shame,", " In Hornbook’s care;", "Horn sent her aff to her lang hame,", " To hide it there.", "", "", "“That’s just a swatch o’ Hornbook’s way;", "Thus goes he on from day to day,", "Thus does he poison, kill, an’ slay,", " An’s weel paid for’t;", "Yet stops me o’ my lawfu’ prey,", " Wi’ his d—n’d dirt:", "", "", "“But, hark! I’ll tell you of a plot,", "Tho’ dinna ye be speakin o’t;", "I’ll nail the self-conceited sot,", " As dead’s a herrin;", "Neist time we meet, I’ll wad a groat,", " He gets his fairin!”", "", "", "But just as he began to tell,", "The auld kirk-hammer strak the bell", "Some wee short hour ayont the twal’,", " Which rais’d us baith:", "I took the way that pleas’d mysel’,", " And sae did Death.", "", "", " Note 1. This recontre happened in seed-time, 1785.—R. B. [back]", "Note 2. An epidemical fever was then raging in that country.—R. B. [back]", "Note 3. This gentleman, Dr. Hornbook, is professionally a brother of the sovereign Order of the Ferula; but, by intuition and inspiration, is at once an apothecary, surgeon, and physician.—R. B. [back]", "Note 4. Burchan’s Domestic Medicine.—R. B. [back]", "Note 5. The grave-digger.—R. B. [back]" ], "linecount": "191" }, { "title": "352. The Song of Death", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL, thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies,", " Now gay with the broad setting sun;", "Farewell, loves and friendships, ye dear tender ties,", " Our race of existence is run!", "Thou grim King of Terrors; thou Life’s gloomy foe!", " Go, frighten the coward and slave;", "Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant! but know", " No terrors hast thou to the brave!", "", "", "Thou strik’st the dull peasant—he sinks in the dark,", " Nor saves e’en the wreck of a name;", "Thou strik’st the young hero—a glorious mark;", " He falls in the blaze of his fame!", "In the field of proud honour—our swords in our hands,", " Our King and our country to save;", "While victory shines on Life’s last ebbing sands,—", " O! who would not die with the brave!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "234. A Mother’s Lament for her Son’s Death", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FATE gave the word, the arrow sped,", " And pierc’d my darling’s heart;", "And with him all the joys are fled", " Life can to me impart.", "", "", "By cruel hands the sapling drops,", " In dust dishonour’d laid;", "So fell the pride of all my hopes,", " My age’s future shade.", "", "", "The mother-linnet in the brake", " Bewails her ravish’d young;", "So I, for my lost darling’s sake,", " Lament the live-day long.", "", "", "Death, oft I’ve feared thy fatal blow.", " Now, fond, I bare my breast;", "O, do thou kindly lay me low", " With him I love, at rest!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "TO THE LADY CREWE, UPON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Why, Madam, will ye longer weep,", "Whenas your baby's lull'd asleep?", "And, pretty child, feels now no more", "Those pains it lately felt before.", "", "All now is silent; groans are fled;", "Your child lies still, yet is not dead,", "But rather like a flower hid here,", "To spring again another year." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Not all thy flushing suns are set,", "Herrick, as yet ;", "Nor doth this far-drawn hemisphere", "Frown and look sullen ev'rywhere.", "Days may conclude in nights, and suns may rest", "As dead within the west ;", "Yet, the next morn, regild the fragrant east.", "", "Alas ! for me, that I have lost", "E'en all almost ;", "Sunk is my sight, set is my sun,", "And all the loom of life undone :", "The staff, the elm, the prop, the shelt'ring wall", "Whereon my vine did crawl,", "Now, now blown down ; needs must the old stock fall.", "", "Yet, Porter, while thou keep'st alive,", "In death I thrive :", "And like a phoenix re-aspire", "From out my nard and fun'ral fire ;", "And as I prune my feathered youth, so I", "Do mar'l how I could die", "When I had thee, my chief preserver, by.", "", "I'm up, I'm up, and bless that hand", "Which makes me stand", "Now as I do, and but for thee", "I must confess I could not be.", "The debt is paid ; for he who doth resign", "Thanks to the gen'rous vine", "Invites fresh grapes to fill his press with wine." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Death, To The Dead For Evermore", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "DEATH, to the dead for evermore", "A King, a God, the last, the best of friends -", "Whene'er this mortal journey ends", "Death, like a host, comes smiling to the door;", "Smiling, he greets us, on that tranquil shore", "Where neither piping bird nor peeping dawn", "Disturbs the eternal sleep,", "But in the stillness far withdrawn", "Our dreamless rest for evermore we keep.", "", "For as from open windows forth we peep", "Upon the night-time star beset", "And with dews for ever wet;", "So from this garish life the spirit peers;", "And lo! as a sleeping city death outspread,", "Where breathe the sleepers evenly; and lo!", "After the loud wars, triumphs, trumpets, tears", "And clamour of man's passion, Death appears,", "And we must rise and go.", "", "Soon are eyes tired with sunshine; soon the ears", "Weary of utterance, seeing all is said;", "Soon, racked by hopes and fears,", "The all-pondering, all-contriving head,", "Weary with all things, wearies of the years;", "And our sad spirits turn toward the dead;", "And the tired child, the body, longs for bed." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "Sonnet: Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire", "author": "Rupert Brooke", "lines": [ "Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire", "Of watching you; and swing me suddenly", "Into the shade and loneliness and mire", "Of the last land! There, waiting patiently,", "", "One day, I think, I'll feel a cool wind blowing,", "See a slow light across the Stygian tide,", "And hear the Dead about me stir, unknowing,", "And tremble. And I shall know that you have died,", "", "And watch you, a broad-browed and smiling dream,", "Pass, light as ever, through the lightless host,", "Quietly ponder, start, and sway, and gleam --", "Most individual and bewildering ghost! --", "", "And turn, and toss your brown delightful head", "Amusedly, among the ancient Dead." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "On The Death Of Mr. Robert Levet, A Practiser In Physic", "author": "Samuel Johnson", "lines": [ "CONDEMN'D to Hope's delusive mine,", "As on we toil from day to day,", "By sudden blasts or slow decline", "Our social comforts drop away.", "", "Well tried through many a varying year,", "See Levet to the grave descend,", "Officious, innocent, sincere,", "Of every friendless name the friend.", "", "Yet still he fills affection's eye,", "Obscurely wise and coarsely kind;", "Nor, letter'd Arrogance, deny", "Thy praise to merit unrefined.", "", "When fainting nature call'd for aid,", "And hov'ring death prepared the blow,", "His vig'rous remedy display'd", "The power of art without the show.", "", "In Misery's darkest cavern known,", "His useful care was ever nigh,", "Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,", "And lonely Want retired to die.", "", "No summons mock'd by chill delay,", "No petty gain disdained by pride;", "The modest wants of every day", "The toil of every day supplied.", "", "His virtues walk'd their narrow round,", "Nor made a pause, nor left a void;", "And sure th' Eternal Master found", "The single talent well employ'd.", "", "The busy day, the peaceful night,", "Unfelt, uncounted, glided by;", "His frame was firm--his powers were bright,", "Though now his eightieth year was nigh.", "", "Then with no fiery throbbing pain,", "No cold gradations of decay,", "Death broke at once the vital chain,", "And freed his soul the nearest way." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "", "Blood -- blood and torn grass --", "Had marked the rise of his agony --", "This lone hunter.", "The grey-green woods impassive", "Had watched the threshing of his limbs.", "", "A canoe with flashing paddle,", "A girl with soft searching eyes,", "A call: \"John!\"", ". . . . .", "Come, arise, hunter!", "Can you not hear?", "", "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "The Death of Nicou", "author": "Thomas Chatterton", "lines": [ "On Tiber's banks, Tiber, whose waters glide", "In slow meanders down to Gaigra's side;", "And circling all the horrid mountain round,", "Rushes impetuous to the deep profound;", "Rolls o'er the ragged rocks with hideous yell;", "Collects its waves beneath the earth's vast shell;", "There for a while in loud confusion hurl'd,", "It crumbles mountains down and shakes the world.", "Till borne upon the pinions of the air,", "Through the rent earth the bursting waves appear;", "Fiercely propell'd the whiten'd billows rise,", "Break from the cavern, and ascend the skies;", "Then lost and conquered by superior force,", "Through hot Arabia holds its rapid coursel", "On Tiber's banks where scarlet jas'mines bloom,", "And purple aloes shed a rich perfume;", "Where, when the sun is melting in his heat,", "The reeking tygers find a cool retreat;", "Bask in the sedges, lose the sultry beam,", "And wanton with their shadows in the stream;", "On Tiber's banks, by sacred priests rever'd,", "Where in the days of old a god appear'd;", "'Twas in the dead of night, at Chalma's feast,", "The tribe of Alra slept around the priest.", "He spoke; as evening thunders bursting near,", "His horrid accents broke upon the ear;", "Attend, Alraddas, with your sacred priest!", "This day the sun is rising in the east;", "The sun, which shall illumine all the earth,", "Now, now is rising, in a mortal birth.", "He vanish'd like a vapour of the night,", "And sunk away in a faint blaze of light.", "Swift from the branches of the holy oak,", "Horror, confusion, fear, and torment brake;", "And still when midnight trims her mazy lamp,", "They take their way through Tiber's wat'ry swamp.", "On Tiber's banks, close ranked, a warring train,", "Stretch'd to the distant edge of Galca's plain;", "So when arrived at Gaigra's highest steep,", "We view the wide expansion of the deep;", "See in the gilding of her wat'ry robe,", "The quick declension of the circling globe;", "From the blue sea a chain of mountains rise,", "Blended at once with water and with skies;", "Beyond our sight in vast extension curl'd,", "The check of waves, the guardians of the world.", "Strong were the warriors, as the ghost of Cawn,", "Who threw the Hill-of-archers to the lawn;", "When the soft earth at his appearance fled;", "And rising billows play'd around his head;", "When a strong tempest rising from the main,", "Dashed the full clouds, unbroken on the plain.", "Nicou, immortal in the sacred song,", "Held the red sword of war, and led the strong;", "From his own tribe the sable warriors came,", "Well try'd in battle, and well known in fame.", "Nicou, descended from the god of war,", "Who lived coeval with the morning star;", "Narada was his name; who cannot tell", "How all the world through great Narada fell!", "Vichon, the god who ruled above the skies,", "Look'd, on Narada, but with envious eyes;", "The warrior dared him, ridiculed his might,", "Bent his white bow, and summon'd him to fight.", "Vichon, disdainful, bade his lightnings fly,", "And scatter'd burning arrows in the sky;", "Threw down a star the armour of his feet,", "To burn the air with supernat'ral heat;", "Bid a loud tempes roar beneath the ground;", "Lifted him up, and bore him thro' the sea.", "The waters still ascending fierce and high,", "He tower'd into the chambers of the sky;", "There Vichon sat, his armour on his bed,", "He thought Narada with the mighty dead.", "Before his seat the heavenly warrior stands,", "The lightning quiv'ring in his yellow hands.", "The god astonish'd dropt; hurl'd from the shore,", "He dropt to torments, and to rise no more.", "", "Head-long he falls; 'tis his own arms compel.", "Condemn'd in ever-burning fires to dwell.", "From this Narada, mighty Nicou sprung;", "The mighty Nicou, furious, wild and young.", "Who led th'embattled archers to the field,", "And more a thunderbolt upon his shield;", "That shield his glorious father died to gain,", "When the white warriors fled along the plain,", "When the full sails could not provoke the flood,", "Till Nicou came and swell'd the seas with blood.", "Slow at the end of his robust array,", "The mighty warrior pensive took his way;", "Against the son of Nair, the young Rorest,", "Once the companion of his youthful breast.", "Strong were the passions of the son of Nair,", "Strong, as the tempest of the evening air.", "Insatiate in desire; fierce as the boar;", "Firm in resolve as Cannie's rocky shore.", "Long had the gods endeavour'd to destroy,", "All Nicou's friendship, happiness, and joy:", "They sought in vain, 'till Vicat, Vichon's son,", "Never in feats of wickedness outdone,", "Saw Nica, sister to the Mountain king,", "Drest beautiful, with all the flow'rs of spring;", "He saw, and scatter'd poison in her eyes;", "From limb to limb in varied forms he flies;", "Dwelt on her crimson lip, and added grace", "To every glossy feature of her face.", "Rorest was fir'd with passion at the sight.", "Friendship and honor, sunk to Vicat's right;", "He saw, he lov'd, and burning with desire,", "Bore the soft maid from brother, sister, sire.", "Pining with sorrow, Nica faded, died,", "Like a fair alow, in its morning pride.", "This brought the warrior to the bloody mead,", "And sent to young Rorest the threat'ning reed.", "He drew his army forth: Oh, need I tell!", "That Nicou conquer'd, and the lover fell;", "His breathless army mantled all the plain;", "And Death sat smiling on the heaps of slain.", "The battle ended, with his reeking dart,", "The pensive Nicou pierc'd his beating heart;", "And to his mourning valiant warriors cry'd,", "I, and my sister's ghost are satisfy'd." ], "linecount": "122" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "It is not death, that sometime in a sigh", "This eloquent breath shall take its speechless flight;", "That sometime these bright stars, that now reply", "In sunlight to the sun, shall set in night;", "That this warm conscious flesh shall perish quite,", "And all life's ruddy springs forget to flow;", "That thoughts shall cease, and the immortal sprite", "Be lapped in alien clay and laid below;", "It is not death to know this,--but to know", "That pious thoughts, which visit at new graves", "In tender pilgrimage, will cease to go", "So duly and so oft,--and when grass waves", "Over the past-away, there may be then", "No resurrection in the minds of men." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Whispers of Heavenly Death.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "WHISPERS of heavenly death, murmur’d I hear;", "Labial gossip of night—sibilant chorals;", "Footsteps gently ascending—mystical breezes, wafted soft and low;", "Ripples of unseen rivers—tides of a current, flowing, forever flowing;", "(Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?)", "", "I see, just see, skyward, great cloud-masses;", "Mournfully, slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing;", "With, at times, a half-dimm’d, sadden’d, far-off star,", "Appearing and disappearing.", "", "(Some parturition, rather—some solemn, immortal birth:", "On the frontiers, to eyes impenetrable,", "Some Soul is passing over.)" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Hymn To Death", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "Oh! could I hope the wise and pure in heart", "Might hear my song without a frown, nor deem", "My voice unworthy of the theme it tries,--", "I would take up the hymn to Death, and say", "To the grim power, The world hath slandered thee", "And mocked thee. On thy dim and shadowy brow", "They place an iron crown, and call thee king", "Of terrors, and the spoiler of the world,", "Deadly assassin, that strik'st down the fair,", "The loved, the good--that breath'st upon the lights", "Of virtue set along the vale of life,", "And they go out in darkness. I am come,", "Not with reproaches, not with cries and prayers,", "Such as have stormed thy stern insensible ear", "From the beginning. I am come to speak", "Thy praises. True it is, that I have wept", "Thy conquests, and may weep them yet again:", "And thou from some I love wilt take a life", "Dear to me as my own. Yet while the spell", "Is on my spirit, and I talk with thee", "In sight of all thy trophies, face to face,", "Meet is it that my voice should utter forth", "", "Thy nobler triumphs: I will teach the world", "To thank thee.--Who are thine accusers?--Who?", "The living!--they who never felt thy power,", "And know thee not. The curses of the wretch", "Whose crimes are ripe, his sufferings when thy hand", "Is on him, and the hour he dreads is come,", "Are writ among thy praises. But the good--", "Does he whom thy kind hand dismissed to peace,", "Upbraid the gentle violence that took off", "His fetters, and unbarred his prison cell?", "Raise then the Hymn to Death. Deliverer!", "God hath anointed thee to free the oppressed", "And crush the oppressor. When the armed chief,", "The conqueror of nations, walks the world,", "And it is changed beneath his feet, and all", "Its kingdoms melt into one mighty realm--", "Thou, while his head is loftiest, and his heart", "Blasphemes, imagining his own right hand", "Almighty, sett'st upon him thy stern grasp,", "And the strong links of that tremendous chain", "That bound mankind are crumbled; thou dost break", "Sceptre and crown, and beat his throne to dust.", "Then the earth shouts with gladness, and her tribes", "Gather within their ancient bounds again.", "Else had the mighty of the olden time,", "Nimrod, Sesostris, or the youth who feigned", "His birth from Lybian Ammon, smote even now", "The nations with a rod of iron, and driven", "Their chariot o'er our necks. Thou dost avenge,", "In thy good time, the wrongs of those who know", "", "No other friend. Nor dost thou interpose", "Only to lay the sufferer asleep,", "Where he who made him wretched troubles not", "His rest--thou dost strike down his tyrant too.", "Oh, there is joy when hands that held the scourge", "Drop lifeless, and the pitiless heart is cold.", "Thou too dost purge from earth its horrible", "And old idolatries; from the proud fanes", "Each to his grave their priests go out, till none", "Is left to teach their worship; then the fires", "Of sacrifice are chilled, and the green moss", "O'ercreeps their altars; the fallen images", "Cumber the weedy courts, and for loud hymns,", "Chanted by kneeling crowds, the chiding winds", "Shriek in the solitary aisles. When he", "Who gives his life to guilt, and laughs at all", "The laws that God or man has made, and round", "Hedges his seat with power, and shines in wealth,--", "Lifts up his atheist front to scoff at Heaven,", "And celebrates his shame in open day,", "Thou, in the pride of all his crimes, cutt'st off", "The horrible example. Touched by thine,", "The extortioner's hard hand foregoes the gold", "Wrong from the o'er-worn poor. The perjurer,", "Whose tongue was lithe, e'en now, and voluble", "Against his neighbour's life, and he who laughed", "And leaped for joy to see a spotless fame", "Blasted before his own foul calumnies,", "Are smit with deadly silence. He, who sold", "His conscience to preserve a worthless life,", "", "Even while he hugs himself on his escape,", "Trembles, as, doubly terrible, at length,", "Thy steps o'ertake him, and there is no time", "For parley--nor will bribes unclench thy grasp.", "Oft, too, dost thou reform thy victim, long", "Ere his last hour. And when the reveller,", "Mad in the chase of pleasure, stretches on,", "And strains each nerve, and clears the path of life", "Like wind, thou point'st him to the dreadful goal,", "And shak'st thy hour-glass in his reeling eye,", "And check'st him in mid course. Thy skeleton hand", "Shows to the faint of spirit the right path,", "And he is warned, and fears to step aside.", "Thou sett'st between the ruffian and his crime", "Thy ghastly countenance, and his slack hand", "Drops the drawn knife. But, oh, most fearfully", "Dost thou show forth Heaven's justice, when thy shafts", "Drink up the ebbing spirit--then the hard", "Of heart and violent of hand restores", "The treasure to the friendless wretch he wronged.", "Then from the writhing bosom thou dost pluck", "The guilty secret; lips, for ages sealed,", "Are faithless to the dreadful trust at length,", "And give it up; the felon's latest breath", "Absolves the innocent man who bears his crime;", "The slanderer, horror smitten, and in tears,", "Recalls the deadly obloquy he forged", "To work his brother's ruin. Thou dost make", "Thy penitent victim utter to the air", "The dark conspiracy that strikes at life,", "", "And aims to whelm the laws; ere yet the hour", "Is come, and the dread sign of murder given.", "Thus, from the first of time, hast thou been found", "On virtue's side; the wicked, but for thee,", "Had been too strong for the good; the great of earth", "Had crushed the weak for ever. Schooled in guile", "For ages, while each passing year had brought", "Its baneful lesson, they had filled the world", "With their abominations; while its tribes,", "Trodden to earth, imbruted, and despoiled,", "Had knelt to them in worship; sacrifice", "Had smoked on many an altar, temple roofs", "Had echoed with the blasphemous prayer and hymn:", "But thou, the great reformer of the world,", "Tak'st off the sons of violence and fraud", "In their green pupilage, their lore half learned--", "Ere guilt has quite o'errun the simple heart", "God gave them at their birth, and blotted out", "His image. Thou dost mark them, flushed with hope,", "As on the threshold of their vast designs", "Doubtful and loose they stand, and strik'st them down.", "", "Alas, I little thought that the stern power", "Whose fearful praise I sung, would try me thus", "Before the strain was ended. It must cease--", "For he is in his grave who taught my youth", "The art of verse, and in the bud of life", "Offered me to the muses. Oh, cut off", "Untimely! when thy reason in its strength,", "Ripened by years of toil and studious search", "", "And watch of Nature's silent lessons, taught", "Thy hand to practise best the lenient art", "To which thou gavest thy laborious days.", "And, last, thy life. And, therefore, when the earth", "Received thee, tears were in unyielding eyes", "And on hard cheeks, and they who deemed thy skill", "Delayed their death-hour, shuddered and turned pale", "When thou wert gone. This faltering verse, which thou", "Shalt not, as wont, o'erlook, is all I have", "To offer at thy grave--this--and the hope", "To copy thy example, and to leave", "A name of which the wretched shall not think", "As of an enemy's, whom they forgive", "As all forgive the dead. Rest, therefore, thou", "Whose early guidance trained my infant steps--", "Rest, in the bosom of God, till the brief sleep", "Of death is over, and a happier life", "Shall dawn to waken thine insensible dust.", "Now thou art not--and yet the men whose guilt", "Has wearied Heaven for vengeance--he who bears", "False witness--he who takes the orphan's bread,", "And robs the widow--he who spreads abroad", "Polluted hands in mockery of prayer,", "Are left to cumber earth. Shuddering I look", "On what is written, yet I blot not out", "The desultory numbers--let them stand.", "The record of an idle revery." ], "linecount": "168" }, { "title": "The Death of the Flowers", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,", "Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere.", "Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;", "They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread;", "The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay,", "And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy day.", "", "Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood", "In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood?", "Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race of flowers", "Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours.", "The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain", "Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again.", "", "The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago,", "And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow;", "But on the hills the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,", "And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood,", "Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men,", "And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade, and glen.", "", "And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come,", "To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home;", "When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still,", "And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill,", "The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore,", "And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.", "", "And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died,", "The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side.", "In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forests cast the leaf,", "And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief:", "Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours,", "So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "The Death of Lord and Lady Dalhousie", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "Alas! Lord and Lady Dalhousie are dead, and buried at last,", "Which causes many people to feel a little downcast;", "And both lie side by side in one grave,", "But I hope God in His goodness their souls will save.", "", "And may He protect their children that are left behind,", "And may they always food and raiment find;", "And from the paths of virtue may they ne'er be led,", "And may they always find a house wherein to lay their head.", "", "Lord Dalhousie was a man worthy of all praise,", "And to his memory I hope a monument the people will raise,", "That will stand for many ages to came", "To commemorate the good deeds he has done.", "", "He was beloved by men of high and low degree,", "Especially in Forfarshire by his tenantry:", "And by many of the inhabitants in and around Dundee,", "Because he was affable in temper. and void of all vanity.", "", "He had great affection for his children, also his wife,", "'Tis said he loved her as dear as his life;", "And I trust they are now in heaven above,", "Where all is joy, peace, and love.", "", "At the age of fourteen he resolved to go to sea,", "So he entered the training ship Britannia belonging the navy,", "And entered as a midshipman as he considered most fit", "Then passed through the course of training with the greatest credit.", "", "In a short time he obtained the rank of lieutenant,", "Then to her Majesty's ship Galatea he was sent;", "Which was under the command of the Duke of Edinburgh,", "And during his service there he felt but little sorrow.", "", "And from that he was promoted to be commander of the Britannia,", "And was well liked by the men, for what he said was law;", "And by him Prince Albert Victor and Prince George received a naval education.", "Which met with the Prince of Wales' roost hearty approbation.", "", "'Twas in the year 1877 he married the Lady Ada Louisa Bennett,", "And by marrying that noble lady he ne'er did regret;", "And he was ever ready to give his service in any way,", "Most willingly and cheerfully by night or by day.", "", "'Twas in the year of 1887, and on Thursday the 1st of December,", "Which his relatives and friends will long remember", "That were present at the funeral in Cockpen, churchyard,", "Because they had for the noble Lord a great regard.", "", "About eleven o'clock the remains reached Dalhousie,", "And were met by a body of the tenantry.", "They conveyed them inside the building allseemingly woe begone", "And among those that sent wreaths was Lord Claude Hamilton.", "", "Those that sent wreaths were but very few,", "But one in particular was the Duke of Buccleuch;", "Besides Dr. Herbert Spencer, and Countess Rosebery, and Lady Bennett,", "Which no doubt were sent by them with heartfelt regret.", "", "Besides those that sent wreaths in addition were the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen,", "Especially the Prince of Wales' was most lovely to be seen,", "And the Earl of Dalkeith's wreath was very pretty too,", "With a mixture of green and white flowers, beautiful to view.", "", "Amongst those present at the interment were Mr Marjoribanks, M.P.,", "Also ex-Provost Ballingall from Bonnie Dundee;", "Besides the Honourable W. G. Colville, representing the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh,", "While in every one's face standing at the grave was depicted sorrow.", "", "The funeral service was conducted in the Church of Cockpen", "By the Rev. J. Crabb, of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, town of Brechin;", "And as the two coffins were lowered into their last resting place,", "Then the people retired with sad hearts at a quick pace." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "The Death of Captain Ward", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "'Twas about the beginning of the past century", "Billy Bowls was pressed into the British Navy,", "And conveyed on board the \"Waterwitch\" without delay,", "Scarce getting time to bid farewell to the villagers of Fairway.", "", "And once on board the \"Waterwitch\" he resolved to do his duty,", "And if he returned safe home he'd marry Nelly Blyth, his beauty;", "And he'd fight for old England like a jolly British tar,", "And the thought of Nelly Blyth would solace him during the war.", "", "Poor fellow, he little thought what he had to go through,", "But in all his trials at sea he never did rue;", "No, the brave tar became reconciled to his fate,", "And felt proud of his commander, Captain Ward the Great.", "", "And on board the \"Waterwitch\" was Tom Riggles, his old comrade,", "And with such a comrade he seldom felt afraid;", "Because the stories they told each other made the time pass quickly away,", "And made their hearts feel light and gay.", "", "'Twas on a Sunday morning and clear to the view,", "Captain Ward the attention of his men he drew;", "\"Look!\" he cried, \"There's two French men-of-war our right,", "Therefore prepare, my lads, immediately to begin the fight.\"", "", "Then the \" Waterwitch\" was steered to the ship that was most near,", "While every men resolved to sell their lives most dear;", "But the French commander disinclined to engage in the fight,", "And he ordered his men to put on a press of canvas and take to flight.", "", "Then Captain Ward gave the order to fire,", "Then Billy Bowls cried, \"Now we'll get fighting to our hearts' desire\";", "And for an hour a running fight was maintained,", "And the two ships of the enemy near upon the \"Waterwitch\" gained.", "", "Captain Ward walked the deck with a firm tread,", "When a shot from the enemy pierced the ship, yet he felt no dread;", "But with a splinter Bill Bowls was wounded on the left arm,", "And he cried, \"Death to the frog-eaters, they have done me little harm.\"", "", "Then Captain Ward cried, \"Fear not, my men, we will win the day,", "Now, men, pour in a broadside without delay", "Then they sailed around the \"St. Denis\" and the \"Gloire,\"", "And in their cabin windows they poured a deadly fire.", "", "The effect on the two ships was tremendous to behold,", "But the Frenchmen stuck to their guns with courage bold;", "And the crash and din of artillery was deafening to the ear,", "And the cries of the wounded men ware pitiful to hear.", "", "Then Captain Ward to his men did say,", "\"We must board the Frenchman without delay\";", "Then he seized his cutlass as he spoke,", "And jumped on board the \" St. Denis \" in the midst of the smoke.", "", "Then Bill Bowls and Tom Riggles hastily followed him,", "Then, hand to hand, the battle did begin;", "And the men sprang upon their foe and beat them back,", "And hauled down their colours and hoisted the Union Jack.", "", "But the men on board the \"St. Denis\" fought desperately hard,", "And just as the \"St. Denis\" was captured a ball struck Captain Ward", "Right on the forehead, and he fell without a groan,", "And for the death of Captain Ward the men did moan.", "", "Then the first lieutenant who was standing near by,", "Loudly to the men did cry,", "\"Come, men, and carry your noble commander below;", "But there's one consolation, we have beaten the foe.\"", "", "And thus fell Captain Ward in the prime of life,", "But I hope he is now in the better world free from strife;", "But, alas! 'tis sad to think he was buried in the mighty deep,", "Where too many of our brave seamen silently sleep." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "The Death of Fred Marsden, the American Playwright", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "A pathetic tragedy I will relate,", "Concerning poor Fred. Marsden's fate,", "Who suffocated himself by the fumes of gas,", "On the 18th of May, and in the year of 1888, alas!", "", "Fred. Marsden was a playwright, the theatrical world knows,", "And was highly esteemed by the people, and had very few foes;", "And in New York, in his bedroom, he took his life away,", "And was found by his servant William in his bedroom where he lay.", "", "The manner in which he took his life : first he locked the door,", "Then closed down the window, and a sheet to shreds he tore", "And then stopped the keyholes and chinks through which air might come,", "Then turned on the single gas-burner, and soon the deed was done.", "", "About seven o'clock in the evening he bade his wife good-night,", "And she left him, smoking, in his room, thinking all was right,", "But when morning came his daughter said she smelled gas,", "Then William, his servant, called loudly on him, but no answer, alas!", "", "Then suspicion flashed across William's brain, and he broke open the door,", "Then soon the family were in a state of uproar,", "For the room was full of gas, and Mr Marsden quite dead,", "And a more kind-hearted father never ate of the world's bread.", "", "And by his kindness he spoiled his only child,", "His pretty daughter Blanche, which made him wild;", "For some time he thought her an angel, she was so very civil,", "But she dishonoured herself, and proved herself a devil.", "", "Her father idolised her, and on her spared no expense,", "And the kind-hearted father gave her too much indulgence,", "Because evening parties and receptions were got up for her sake,", "Besides, he bought her a steam yacht to sail on Schroon Lake.", "", "His means he lavished upon his home and his wife,", "And he loved his wife and daughter as dear as his life;", "But Miss Blanche turned to folly, and wrecked their home through strife,", "And through Miss Marsden's folly her father took his life.", "", "She wanted to ride, and her father bought her a horse,", "And by giving her such indulgences, in morals she grew worse;", "And by her immoral actions she broke her father's heart;", "And, in my opinion, she has acted a very ungrateful part.", "", "At last she fled from her father's house, which made him mourn,", "Then the crazy father went after her and begged her to return,", "But she tore her father's beard, and about the face beat him,", "Then fled to her companions in evil, and thought it no sin.", "", "Then her father sent her one hundred dollars, and found her again,", "And he requested her to come home, but it was all in vain;", "For his cruel daughter swore at him without any dread,", "And, alas! next morning, he was found dead in his bed.", "", "And soon theatrical circles were shocked to learn,", "Of the sudden death of genial Fred Marsden,", "Whose house had been famous for its hospitality,", "To artists, litterateurs, and critics of high and low degree.", "", "And now dear Mrs Marsden is left alone to mourn", "The loss of her loving husband, whom to her will ne'er return;", "But I hope God will be kind to her in her bereavement,", "And open her daughter's eyes, and make her repent", "", "For being the cause of her father's death, the generous Fred,", "Who oft poor artists and mendicants has fed;", "But, alas! his bounties they will never receive more,", "Therefore poor artists and mendicants will his loss deplore.", "", "Therefore, all ye kind parents of high and low degree,", "I pray ye all, be advised by me,", "And never pamper your children in any way,", "Nor idolise them, for they are apt to go astray,", "", "And treat ye, like pretty Blanche Marsden,", "Who by her folly has been the death of one of the finest men;", "So all kind parents, be warned by me,", "And remember always this sad Tragedy!" ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Sonnet 66: Tired with all these, for restful death I cry", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,", "As to behold desert a beggar born,", "And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,", "And purest faith unhappily forsworn,", "And gilded honour shamefully misplac'd,", "And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,", "And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd,", "And strength by limping sway disabled", "And art made tongue-tied by authority,", "And folly--doctor-like--controlling skill,", "And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,", "And captive good attending captain ill:", " Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone,", " Save that, to die, I leave my love alone." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Why should man's high aspiring mind", "Burn in him with so proud a breath,", "When all his haughty views can find", " In this world yields to death?", "The fair, the brave, the vain, the wise,", "The rich, the poor, the great, and small,", "Are each but worm's anatomies", " To strew his quiet hall.", "", "Power may make many earthly gods,", "Where gold and bribery's guilt prevails,", "But death's unwelcome, honest odds", " Kick o'er the unequal scales.", "The flattered great may clamours raise", "Of power, and their own weakness hide,", "But death shall find unlooked-for ways", " To end the farce of pride,", "", "An arrow hurtled eer so high,", "From een a giant's sinewy strength,", "In Time's untraced eternity", " Goes but a pigmy length;", "Nay, whirring from the tortured string,", "With all its pomp of hurried flight,", "Tis by the skylark's little wing", " Outmeasured in its height.", "", "Just so man's boasted strength and power", "Shall fade before death's lightest stroke,", "Laid lower than the meanest flower,", " Whose pride oer-topt the oak;", "And he who, like a blighting blast,", "Dispeopled worlds with war's alarms", "Shall be himself destroyed at last", " By poor despised worms.", "", "Tyrants in vain their powers secure,", "And awe slaves' murmurs with a frown,", "For unawed death at last is sure", " To sap the babels down.", "A stone thrown upward to the sky", "Will quickly meet the ground agen;", "So men-gods of earth's vanity", " Shall drop at last to men;", "", "And Power and Pomp their all resign,", "Blood-purchased thrones and banquet halls.", "Fate waits to sack Ambition's shrine", " As bare as prison walls,", "Where the poor suffering wretch bows down", "To laws a lawless power hath passed;", "And pride, and power, and king, and clown", " Shall be Death's slaves at last.", "", "Time, the prime minister of Death!", "There's nought can bribe his honest will.", "He stops the richest tyrant's breath", " And lays his mischief still.", "Each wicked scheme for power all stops,", "With grandeurs false and mock display,", "As eve's shades from high mountain tops", " Fade with the rest away.", "", "Death levels all things in his march;", "Nought can resist his mighty strength;", "The palace proud, triumphal arch,", " Shall mete its shadow's length.", "The rich, the poor, one common bed", "Shall find in the unhonoured grave,", "Where weeds shall crown alike the head", " Of tyrant and of slave." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "The Poet's Death", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The world is taking little heed", " And plods from day to day:", "The vulgar flourish like a weed,", " The learned pass away.", "", "We miss him on the summer path", " The lonely summer day,", "Where mowers cut the pleasant swath", " And maidens make the hay.", "", "The vulgar take but little heed;", " The garden wants his care;", "There lies the book he used to read,", " There stands the empty chair.", "", "The boat laid up, the voyage oer,", " And passed the stormy wave,", "The world is going as before,", " The poet in his grave." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "On the Death of a Young Lady, Cousin to the Author, and Very Dear to Him", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Hush'd are the winds, and still the evening gloom,", " Not e'en a zephyr wanders through the grove,", "Whilst I return to view my Margaret's tomb,", " And scatter flowers on the dust I love.", "", "Within this narrow cell reclines her clay,", " That clay, where once such animation beam'd;", "The King of Terrors seiz'd her as his prey;", " Not worth, nor beauty, have her life redeem'd.", "", "Oh! could that King of Terrors pity feel,", " Or Heaven reverse the dread decree of fate,", "Not here the mourner would his grief reveal,", " Not here the Muse her virtues would relate.", "", "But wherefore weep? Her matchless spirit soars", " Beyond where splendid shines the orb of day;", "And weeping angels lead her to those bowers,", " Where endless pleasures virtuous deeds repay.", "", "And shall presumptuous mortals Heaven arraign!", " And, madly, Godlike Providence accuse!", "Ah! no, far fly from me attempts so vain;--", " I'll ne'er submission to my God refuse.", "", "Yet is remembrance of those virtues dear,", " Yet fresh the memory of that beauteous face;", "Still they call forth my warm affection's tear,", " Still in my heart retain their wonted place." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "On the Death of Mr. Fox", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "\"Our Nation's foes lament on _Fox's_ death,", "But bless the hour, when PITT resign'd his breath:", "These feelings wide, let Sense and Truth unclue,", "We give the palm, where Justice points its due.\"", "", "Oh, factious viper! whose envenom'd tooth", "Would mangle, still, the dead, perverting truth;", "What, though our \"nation's foes\" lament the fate,", "With generous feeling, of the good and great;", "Shall dastard tongues essay to blast the name", "Of him, whose meed exists in endless fame?", "When PITT expir'd in plenitude of power,", "Though ill success obscur'd his dying hour,", "Pity her dewy wings before him spread,", "For noble spirits \"war not with the dead:\"", "His friends in tears, a last sad requiem gave,", "As all his errors slumber'd in the grave;", "He sunk, an Atlas bending \"'neath the weight\"", "Of cares o'erwhelming our conflicting state.", "When, lo! a Hercules, in Fox, appear'd,", "Who for a time the ruin'd fabric rear'd:", "He, too, is fall'n, who Britain's loss supplied,", "With him, our fast reviving hopes have died;", "Not one great people, only, raise his urn,", "All Europe's far-extended regions mourn.", "\"These feelings wide, let Sense and Truth undue,", "To give the palm where Justice points its due;\"", "Yet, let not canker'd Calumny assail,", "Or round her statesman wind her gloomy veil.", "FOX! o'er whose corse a mourning world must weep,", "Whose dear remains in honour'd marble sleep;", "For whom, at last, e'en hostile nations groan,", "While friends and foes, alike, his talents own.-", "Fox! shall, in Britain's future annals, shine,", "Nor e'en to PITT, the patriot's 'palm' resign;", "Which Envy, wearing Candour's sacred mask,", "For PITT, and PITT alone, has dar'd to ask." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "On the Death of the Duke of Dorset", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "I heard thy fate without a tear,", " Thy loss with scarce a sigh;", "And yet thou wast surpassing dear,", " Too loved of all to die.", "I know not what hath seared my eye--", " Its tears refuse to start;", "But every drop, it bids me dry,", " Falls dreary on my heart.", "", "Yes, dull and heavy, one by one,", " They sink and turn to care,", "As caverned waters wear the stone,", " Yet dropping harden there:", "They cannot petrify more fast,", " Than feelings sunk remain,", "Which coldly fixed regard the past,", " But never melt again." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Monody on the Death of the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When the last sunshine of expiring Day", "In Summer's twilight weeps itself away,", "Who hath not felt the softness of the hour", "Sink on the heart, as dew along the flower?", "With a pure feeling which absorbs and awes", "While Nature makes that melancholy pause--", "Her breathing moment on the bridge where Time", "Of light and darkness forms an arch sublime--", "Who hath not shared that calm, so still and deep,", "The voiceless thought which would not speak but weep,", "A holy concord, and a bright regret,", "A glorious sympathy with suns that set?", "'Tis not harsh sorrow, but a tenderer woe,", "Nameless, but dear to gentle hearts below,", "Felt without bitterness--but full and clear,", "A sweet dejection--a transparent tear,", "Unmixed with worldly grief or selfish stain--", "Shed without shame, and secret without pain.", "Even as the tenderness that hour instils", "When Summer's day declines along the hills,", "So feels the fulness of our heart and eyes", "When all of Genius which can perish dies.", "A mighty Spirit is eclipsed--a Power", "Hath passed from day to darkness--to whose hour", "Of light no likeness is bequeathed--no name,", "Focus at once of all the rays of Fame!", "The flash of Wit--the bright Intelligence,", "The beam of Song--the blaze of Eloquence,", "Set with their Sun, but still have left behind", "The enduring produce of immortal Mind;", "Fruits of a genial morn, and glorious noon,", "A deathless part of him who died too soon.", "But small that portion of the wondrous whole,", "These sparkling segments of that circling Soul,", "Which all embraced, and lightened over all,", "To cheer--to pierce--to please--or to appal.", "From the charmed council to the festive board,", "Of human feelings the unbounded lord;", "In whose acclaim the loftiest voices vied,", "The praised--the proud--who made his praise their pride.", "When the loud cry of trampled Hindostan", "Arose to Heaven in her appeal from Man,", "His was the thunder--his the avenging rod,", "The wrath--the delegated voice of God!", "Which shook the nations through his lips, and blazed", "Till vanquished senates trembled as they praised.", "", "And here, oh! here, where yet all young and warm,", "The gay creations of his spirit charm,", "The matchless dialogue--the deathless wit,", "Which knew not what it was to intermit;", "The glowing portraits, fresh from life, that bring", "Home to our hearts the truth from which they spring;", "These wondrous beings of his fancy, wrought", "To fulness by the fiat of his thought,", "Here in their first abode you still may meet,", "Bright with the hues of his Promethean heat;", "A Halo of the light of other days,", "Which still the splendour of its orb betrays.", "But should there be to whom the fatal blight", "Of failing Wisdom yields a base delight,", "Men who exult when minds of heavenly tone", "Jar in the music which was born their own,", "Still let them pause--ah! little do they know", "That what to them seemed Vice might be but Woe.", "Hard is his fate on whom the public gaze", "Is fixed for ever to detract or praise;", "Repose denies her requiem to his name,", "And Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame.", "The secret Enemy whose sleepless eye", "Stands sentinel--accuser--judge--and spy.", "The foe, the fool, the jealous, and the vain,", "The envious who but breathe in other's pain--", "Behold the host! delighting to deprave,", "Who track the steps of Glory to the grave,", "Watch every fault that daring Genius owes", "Half to the ardour which its birth bestows,", "Distort the truth, accumulate the lie,", "And pile the Pyramid of Calumny!", "These are his portion--but if joined to these", "Gaunt Poverty should league with deep Disease,", "If the high Spirit must forget to soar,", "And stoop to strive with Misery at the door,", "To soothe Indignity--and face to face", "Meet sordid Rage, and wrestle with Disgrace,", "To find in Hope but the renewed caress,", "The serpent-fold of further Faithlessness:--", "If such may be the Ills which men assail,", "What marvel if at last the mightiest fail?", "Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given", "Bear hearts electric-charged with fire from Heaven,", "Black with the rude collision, inly torn,", "By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne,", "Driven o'er the lowering atmosphere that nurst", "Thoughts which have turned to thunder--scorch, and burst.", "", "But far from us and from our mimic scene", "Such things should be--if such have ever been;", "Ours be the gentler wish, the kinder task,", "To give the tribute Glory need not ask,", "To mourn the vanished beam, and add our mite", "Of praise in payment of a long delight.", "Ye Orators! whom yet our councils yield,", "Mourn for the veteran Hero of your field!", "The worthy rival of the wondrous _Three!_", "Whose words were sparks of Immortality!", "Ye Bards! to whom the Drama's Muse is dear,", "He was your Master--emulate him _here_!", "Ye men of wit and social eloquence!", "He was your brother--bear his ashes hence!", "While Powers of mind almost of boundless range,", "Complete in kind, as various in their change,", "While Eloquence--Wit--Poesy--and Mirth,", "That humbler Harmonist of care on Earth,", "Survive within our souls--while lives our sense", "Of pride in Merit's proud pre-eminence,", "Long shall we seek his likeness--long in vain,", "And turn to all of him which may remain,", "Sighing that Nature formed but one such man,", "And broke the die--in moulding Sheridan!" ], "linecount": "118" }, { "title": "Fragment of the Elegy on the Death of Bion", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS.", "", "Ye Dorian woods and waves, lament aloud,--", "Augment your tide, O streams, with fruitless tears,", "For the beloved Bion is no more.", "Let every tender herb and plant and flower,", "From each dejected bud and drooping bloom,", "Shed dews of liquid sorrow, and with breath", "Of melancholy sweetness on the wind", "Diffuse its languid love; let roses blush,", "Anemones grow paler for the loss", "Their dells have known; and thou, O hyacinth,", "Utter thy legend now--yet more, dumb flower,", "Than 'Ah! alas!'--thine is no common grief--", "Bion the is no more." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "On Death", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "THERE IS NO WORK, NOR DEVICE, NOR KNOWLEDGE, NOR WISDOM,", "IN THE GRAVE, WHITHER THOU GOEST.--Ecclesiastes.", "", "The pale, the cold, and the moony smile", "Which the meteor beam of a starless night", "Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle,", "Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,", "Is the flame of life so fickle and wan", "That flits round our steps till their strength is gone.", "", "O man! hold thee on in courage of soul", "Through the stormy shades of thy worldly way,", "And the billows of cloud that around thee roll", "Shall sleep in the light of a wondrous day,", "Where Hell and Heaven shall leave thee free", "To the universe of destiny.", "", "This world is the nurse of all we know,", "This world is the mother of all we feel,", "And the coming of death is a fearful blow", "To a brain unencompassed with nerves of steel;", "When all that we know, or feel, or see,", "Shall pass like an unreal mystery.", "", "The secret things of the grave are there,", "Where all but this frame must surely be,", "Though the fine-wrought eye and the wondrous ear", "No longer will live to hear or to see", "All that is great and all that is strange", "In the boundless realm of unending change.", "", "Who telleth a tale of unspeaking death?", "Who lifteth the veil of what is to come?", "Who painteth the shadows that are beneath", "The wide-winding caves of the peopled tomb?", "Or uniteth the hopes of what shall be", "With the fears and the love for that which we see?" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "They die--the dead return not--Misery", "Sits near an open grave and calls them over,", "A Youth with hoary hair and haggard eye--", "They are the names of kindred, friend and lover,", "Which he so feebly calls--they all are gone--", "Fond wretch, all dead! those vacant names alone,", "This most familiar scene, my pain--", "These tombs--alone remain.", "", "Misery, my sweetest friend--oh, weep no more!", "Thou wilt not be consoled--I wonder not!", "For I have seen thee from thy dwelling's door", "Watch the calm sunset with them, and this spot", "Was even as bright and calm, but transitory,", "And now thy hopes are gone, thy hair is hoary;", "This most familiar scene, my pain--", "These tombs--alone remain." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Death", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Death is here and death is there,", "Death is busy everywhere,", "All around, within, beneath,", "Above is death--and we are death.", "", "Death has set his mark and seal", "On all we are and all we feel,", "On all we know and all we fear,", "", "...", "", "First our pleasures die--and then", "Our hopes, and then our fears--and when", "These are dead, the debt is due,", "Dust claims dust--and we die too.", "", "All things that we love and cherish,", "Like ourselves must fade and perish;", "Such is our rude mortal lot--", "Love itself would, did they not." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Fragment: Death in Life", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "My head is heavy, my limbs are weary,", "And it is not life that makes me move." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "Lines Written on Hearing the News of the Death of Napoleon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "What! alive and so bold, O Earth?", "Art thou not overbold?", "What! leapest thou forth as of old", "In the light of thy morning mirth,", "The last of the flock of the starry fold?", "Ha! leapest thou forth as of old?", "Are not the limbs still when the ghost is fled,", "And canst thou move, Napoleon being dead?", "", "How! is not thy quick heart cold?", "What spark is alive on thy hearth?", "How! is not HIS death-knell knolled?", "And livest THOU still, Mother Earth?", "Thou wert warming thy fingers old", "O'er the embers covered and cold", "Of that most fiery spirit, when it fled--", "What, Mother, do you laugh now he is dead?", "", "'Who has known me of old,' replied Earth,", "'Or who has my story told?", "It is thou who art overbold.'", "And the lightning of scorn laughed forth", "As she sung, 'To my bosom I fold", "All my sons when their knell is knolled,", "And so with living motion all are fed,", "And the quick spring like weeds out of the dead.", "", "'Still alive and still bold,' shouted Earth,", "'I grow bolder and still more bold.", "The dead fill me ten thousandfold", "Fuller of speed, and splendour, and mirth.", "I was cloudy, and sullen, and cold,", "Like a frozen chaos uprolled,", "Till by the spirit of the mighty dead", "My heart grew warm. I feed on whom I fed.", "", "'Ay, alive and still bold.' muttered Earth,", "'Napoleon's fierce spirit rolled,", "In terror and blood and gold,", "A torrent of ruin to death from his birth.", "Leave the millions who follow to mould", "The metal before it be cold;", "And weave into his shame, which like the dead", "Shrouds me, the hopes that from his glory fled.'" ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Fragment: 'The Death Knell Is Ringing'", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The death knell is ringing", "The raven is singing", "The earth worm is creeping", "The mourners are weeping", "Ding dong, bell--" ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "Fragment of the Elegy on the Death of Adonis", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "PROM THE GREEK OF BION.", "", "I mourn Adonis dead--loveliest Adonis--", "Dead, dead Adonis--and the Loves lament.", "Sleep no more, Venus, wrapped in purple woof--", "Wake violet-stoled queen, and weave the crown", "Of Death,--'tis Misery calls,--for he is dead.", "", "The lovely one lies wounded in the mountains,", "His white thigh struck with the white tooth; he scarce", "Yet breathes; and Venus hangs in agony there.", "The dark blood wanders o'er his snowy limbs,", "His eyes beneath their lids are lustreless,", "The rose has fled from his wan lips, and there", "That kiss is dead, which Venus gathers yet.", "", "A deep, deep wound Adonis...", "A deeper Venus bears upon her heart.", "See, his beloved dogs are gathering round--", "The Oread nymphs are weeping--Aphrodite", "With hair unbound is wandering through the woods,", "'Wildered, ungirt, unsandalled--the thorns pierce", "Her hastening feet and drink her sacred blood.", "Bitterly screaming out, she is driven on", "Through the long vales; and her Assyrian boy,", "Her love, her husband, calls--the purple blood", "From his struck thigh stains her white navel now,", "Her bosom, and her neck before like snow.", "", "Alas for Cytherea--the Loves mourn--", "The lovely, the beloved is gone!--and now", "Her sacred beauty vanishes away.", "For Venus whilst Adonis lived was fair--", "Alas! her loveliness is dead with him.", "The oaks and mountains cry, Ai! ai! Adonis!", "The springs their waters change to tears and weep--", "The flowers are withered up with grief...", "", "Ai! ai! ... Adonis is dead", "Echo resounds ... Adonis dead.", "Who will weep not thy dreadful woe. O Venus?", "Soon as she saw and knew the mortal wound", "Of her Adonis--saw the life-blood flow", "From his fair thigh, now wasting,--wailing loud", "She clasped him, and cried ... 'Stay, Adonis!", "Stay, dearest one,...", "and mix my lips with thine--", "Wake yet a while, Adonis--oh, but once,", "That I may kiss thee now for the last time--", "But for as long as one short kiss may live--", "Oh, let thy breath flow from thy dying soul", "Even to my mouth and heart, that I may suck", "That...'" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "To Death", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Death! where is thy victory?", "To triumph whilst I die,", "To triumph whilst thine ebon wing", "Enfolds my shuddering soul?", "O Death! where is thy sting?", "Not when the tides of murder roll,", "When nations groan, that kings may bask in bliss,", "Death! canst thou boast a victory such as this--", "When in his hour of pomp and power", "His blow the mightiest murderer gave,", "Mid Nature's cries the sacrifice", "Of millions to glut the grave;", "When sunk the Tyrant Desolation's slave;", "Or Freedom's life-blood streamed upon thy shrine;", "Stern Tyrant, couldst thou boast a victory such as mine?", "", "To know in dissolution's void", "That mortals' baubles sunk decay;", "That everything, but Love, destroyed", "Must perish with its kindred clay,--", "Perish Ambition's crown,", "Perish her sceptred sway:", "From Death's pale front fades Pride's fastidious frown.", "In Death's damp vault the lurid fires decay,", "That Envy lights at heaven-born Virtue's beam--", "That all the cares subside,", "Which lurk beneath the tide", "Of life's unquiet stream;--", "Yes! this is victory!", "And on yon rock, whose dark form glooms the sky,", "To stretch these pale limbs, when the soul is fled;", "To baffle the lean passions of their prey,", "To sleep within the palace of the dead!", "Oh! not the King, around whose dazzling throne", "His countless courtiers mock the words they say,", "Triumphs amid the bud of glory blown,", "As I in this cold bed, and faint expiring groan!", "", "Tremble, ye proud, whose grandeur mocks the woe", "Which props the column of unnatural state!", "You the plainings, faint and low,", "From Misery's tortured soul that flow,", "Shall usher to your fate.", "", "Tremble, ye conquerors, at whose fell command", "The war-fiend riots o'er a peaceful land!", "You Desolation's gory throng", "Shall bear from Victory along", "To that mysterious strand." ], "linecount": "46" } ]