WARD of the LAW! -- dread Shadow of a King! Whose realm had dwindled to one stately room; Whose universe was gloom immersed in gloom, Darkness as thick as life o'er life could fling, Save haply for some feeble glimmering Of Faith and Hope -- if thou, by nature's doom, Gently hast sunk into the quiet tomb, Why should we bend in grief, to sorrow cling, When thankfulness were best? -- Fresh-flowing tears, Or, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, Yield to such after-thought the sole reply Which justly it can claim. The Nation hears In this deep knell, silent for threescore years, An unexampled voice of awful memory! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BARCLAY OF URY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE NEW JERUSALEM by AUGUSTINE AN EVENING HYMN by JOSEPH BEAUMONT THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: FATALITY by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON YSOLTE by GEORGE FREDERICK CAMERON TO MY HONOURED FRIEND MASTER THOMAS MAY, UPON HIS COMEDY, 'THE HEIR' by THOMAS CAREW ON THE STATUE OF CLEOPATRA, MADE INTO A FOUNTAIN BY LEO X by BALDASSARRE CASTIGLIONE |