DEAD! And the echoes dumb, That thrilled our very inmost soul to hear: And now through all the rich autumnal air, His city's hum Murmurs in fitful throbs, like dying beat Of funeral drum! Hark! 't is the voice of song -- No dirge, no requiem chant of hopeless woe, With tramp of dull, unwilling footsteps slow: Nay, that would wrong The cheery life that ever was so sweet, Tender and strong: But waves along the shore, That plash and sing like little children's mirth, Whose faces he loved best of all the earth, And winds that o'er This lonely world still blow, never to greet His music more -- Those waves and winds I hear, And whispering trees, and note of happy bird, And Nature's every mellow tone is heard, Singing full clear The old immortal harmonies his feet Followed so near. Still, Nature, still repeat Thy purest symphonies for his pure sake, Whose heart love's grandest victory could take From love's defeat; Whose life was bruised, like some sweet herb, to make All others sweet. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO W.P.: 4 by GEORGE SANTAYANA TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN: THE FIRST DAY: THE BIRDS OF KILLINGWORTH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW MARE LIBERUM by HENRY VAN DYKE VARIUM ET MUTABILE by THOMAS WYATT LAUTERBRUNNEN by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON PSALM 9, SELECTION by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE WHISTLE OF THE TRAIN by LEVI BISHOP O FOR A SOUL by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT FIGHT! (HARVARD-DARTMOUTH FOOTBALL GAME, 1908) by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |