IN MEMORIAM.
A GRASSY mound, with violets blooming o'er,
Not all forgotten; here the song-birds pour
And blend their music with the rippling wave,
Above a cross which marks a freeman's grave;
The mild rebuke reflected from thy song,
Minstrels of light and air, to me belong—
Ye daily chant where the departed rest,
Singing till day sinks in the golden west.
Not all forgotten; here the song-birds pour
And blend their music with the rippling wave,
Above a cross which marks a freeman's grave;
The mild rebuke reflected from thy song,
Minstrels of light and air, to me belong—
Ye daily chant where the departed rest,
Singing till day sinks in the golden west.
Dost know, sweet birds, that by this lonely shore,
Where all unbidden, brilliant notes ye pour,
Here rests my kin who left his father-land,
Resisting monarchs and a tyrant band?
His griefs and wrongs are all unsung, untold,
Oppression spurning, noble, generous, bold,—
Would that my lyre, my feeble lyre, could wake
Music undying, for his memory's sake.
Where all unbidden, brilliant notes ye pour,
Here rests my kin who left his father-land,
Resisting monarchs and a tyrant band?
His griefs and wrongs are all unsung, untold,
Oppression spurning, noble, generous, bold,—
Would that my lyre, my feeble lyre, could wake
Music undying, for his memory's sake.
What were their thrones to thee, empurpled o'er,
Or crowns of jewels that thy monarchs wore,
Their robes of royalty, of pomp and state,
Or kingly courts, and all who on them wait?
Or crowns of jewels that thy monarchs wore,
Their robes of royalty, of pomp and state,
Or kingly courts, and all who on them wait?
