Hampden, when charge on charge o'er Chalgrove Field Was broken, and thou took'st thy desolate way Forth from the battle, ere the clarions pealed To tell thee thy old cause had lost the day, Thou wounded unto death, thou quite fordone, Thou riding with droopt head and hands declined Upon the saddle, hadst indeed begun To be the symbol of the Lonely Mind. For some there be who dwell in solitude, Though honours brighten and though friends acclaim, And hourly fame and faith repel the rude Onset of thickening years and Death's last shame; Ay, some, great Rebel, though exceeding strait Their little walk in life, more than obscure, Like thee have still foretasted the lone fate Which at the close of all thou didst endure. To live alone -- that is their doom: to die Unhelpt by earthly aids, lover or friend, Reason, a bird along the lonely sky, Guiding their desolate footsteps unto the end; Reason, a golden angel climbing still In uttermost heav'n above their painful road, A strong compelling spirit, whose stern will Is their prime glory and their heavy load. Thou hadst a mighty king wherewith to cope: They but oppressors small, who, day by day, Pettily sap their every faith and hope: Yet are ye one in sorrows, thou and they! Hampden, on this June morn, when every air Is sweet with rose-bloom and the summer's breath, Some solitaries know thy last despair Through Reason and old ever-beckoning Death. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHPEHERD'S HOUR by PAUL VERLAINE CORN-LAW HYMN by EBENEZER ELLIOTT THE COW IN APPLE TIME by ROBERT FROST PSALM 86 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 31 by THOMAS CAMPION ALICE DU CLOS: OR THE FORKED TONGUE. A BALLAD by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |