SOON to the grave descends each honoured name That raised their country to this blaze of fame: Sages, that planned, and chiefs that led the way To Freedom's temple, all too soon decay, Alike submit to one impartial doom, Their glories closing in perpetual gloom, Like the bright splendours of the evening, fade, While night advances, to complete the shade. REED, 'tis for thee we shed the unpurchased tear, Bend o'er thy tomb, and plant our laurels there: Your acts, your life, the noblest pile transcend, And Virtue, patriot Virtue, mourns her friend, Gone to those realms, where worth may claim regard, And gone where virtue meets her best reward. No single art engaged his vigorous mind, In every scene his active genius shined: Nature in him, in honour to our age, At once composed the soldier and the sage -- Firm to his purpose, vigilant and bold, Detesting traitors, and despising gold, He scorned all bribes from Britain's hostile throne, For all his country's wrongs he held his own. REED, rest in peace: for time' s impartial page Shall raise the blush on this ungrateful age: Long in these climes thy name shall flourish fair, The statesman's pattern and the poet's care; Long in these climes thy memory shall remain, And still new tributes from new ages gain, Fair to the eye that injured honour rise -- Nor traitors triumph while the patriot dies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RAHEL TO VARNHAGEN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON IN MAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR CROSSING THE BAR by ALFRED TENNYSON THE HIGHER PANTHEISM by ALFRED TENNYSON THE HEATH-COCK by JOANNA BAILLIE AND LOCUSTS BLOOM TOMORROW by MILDRED TELFORD BARNWELL |