HERE rests, at last, from worldly care and strife, A gentle man-of-rhyme, Not all unknown to fame, -- whose lays and life Fell short of the sublime. Yet, as his poems ('t was the critics' praise) Betrayed a careful mind, His life, with less of license than his lays, To Virtue was inclined. Whate'er of Wit the kindly Muse supplied He ever strove to bend To Folly's hurt; nor once with wanton pride Employed to pain a friend. He loved a quip, but in his jesting vein With studious care effaced The doubtful word that threatened to profane The sacred or the chaste. He loathed the covert, diabolic jeer That conscience undermines; No hinted sacrilege nor skeptic sneer Lurks in his laughing lines. With satire's sword to pierce the false and wrong; A ballad to invent That bore a wholesome sermon in the song, -- Such was the poet's bent. In social converse, "happy as a king." When colder men refrained From daring flights, he gave his fancy wing And freedom unrestrained. And golden thoughts, at times, -- a motley brood, -- Came flashing from the mine; And fools who saw him in his merry mood Accused the untasted wine. He valued friendship's favor more than fame, And paid his social dues; He loved his Art, -- but held his manly name Far dearer than his Muse. And partial friends, while gayly laughing o'er The merry lines they quote, Say with a sigh, "To us the man was more Than aught he ever wrote!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAD WOMAN'S SONG by KAREN SWENSON TO CHLOE WHO FOR HIS SAKE WISHED HERSELF YOUNGER by WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT THE SLAVE MOTHER by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER THE RIGHT MARY by CLARIBEL WEEKS AVERY PSALM 119 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE LADIES FAIR by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH FRIENDSHIP by MARIA GOWEN BROOKS |