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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OLD STEPHEN by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: HE SERVED HIS MASTER WELL FROM YOUTH TO AGE
Last Line: ACROSS HIS DIAL AND HIS ORPHAN LAWN.
Subject(s): DEATH; DEAD, THE;

He served his master well from youth to age;
Who gave him then a little plot of land,
Enough a busy spirit to engage,
Too small to overtax an aged hand.
Old Stephen's memory hallows all the ground;
He made this thrifty lawn so spruce and small,
Dial and seat within its narrow bound,
And both half-hid with woodbine from the Hall.
But he is gone at last: how meek he lay
That nght, and pray'd his dying hours away --
When the sun rose he ceased to breathe and feel:
Day broke -- his eyes were on a lovelier dawn,
While ours beheld the sweet May morning steal
Across his dial and his orphan lawn.



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