ESTEEM'D, admir'd, belov'd, -- farewell! Alas! what need hast thou of peace? Our bitterest winter tolls the knell, And tolls, and tolls, and will not cease. It tolls and tolls with iron tongue For empty lives and hearts unbless'd, And tolls for thee, whose heart was young, Whose life was stored with hope and rest. Thy meditative quaint replies, Cast out like arrows on the air, The humour in thy dark grey eyes, The wisdom in thy silver hair, -- Tho' these grow faint, shade after shade, As those who love thee droop and pass, Thy being was not wholly made To shrink like breath upon a glass. Thou with new graces didst maintain The old, outworn scholastic seat, Throned, simply, with an ardent train Of studious beauty round thy feet. Those girls, grown mothers soon, will teach Their sons to praise thy sacred name, Thy hand that taught their hands to reach The broader thought, the brighter flame. So thou, tho' sunk amidst the gloom That gathers round our reedy shore, Shalt with diffused light illume A thousand hearths unlit before. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LILY, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THE RAINY SUMMER by ALICE MEYNELL ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 47 by PHILIP SIDNEY THE RE-CURED LOVER EXULTETH IN HIS FREEDOM by THOMAS WYATT INSCRIPTION IN NETHER STOREY CHURCH IN MEMORY OF RICHARD CAMPLIN by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: A VISION by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |