Poems (Southey)/Volume 1/Inscription 07 - For the Cenotaph at Ermenonville
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INSCRIPTION VII.
For the CENOTAPH at ERMENONVILLE.
Stranger! the Man of Nature lies not here:
Enshrin'd far distant by his [1]rival's side
His relics rest, there by the giddy throng
With blind idolatry alike revered!
Wiselier directed have thy pilgrim feet
Explor'd the scenes of Ermenonville. Rousseau
Loved these calm haunts of Solitude and Peace;
Here he has heard the murmurs of the lake,
And the soft rustling of the poplar grove,
When o'er their bending boughs the passing wind
Swept a grey shade. Here if thy breast be full,
If in thine eye the tear devout should gush,
His Spirit shall behold thee, to thine home
From hence returning, purified of heart.
1796.
Enshrin'd far distant by his [1]rival's side
His relics rest, there by the giddy throng
With blind idolatry alike revered!
Wiselier directed have thy pilgrim feet
Explor'd the scenes of Ermenonville. Rousseau
Loved these calm haunts of Solitude and Peace;
Here he has heard the murmurs of the lake,
And the soft rustling of the poplar grove,
When o'er their bending boughs the passing wind
Swept a grey shade. Here if thy breast be full,
If in thine eye the tear devout should gush,
His Spirit shall behold thee, to thine home
From hence returning, purified of heart.
1796.