Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, STANZAS OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF H-- A--, by BERNARD BARTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

STANZAS OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF H-- A--, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Would I deck truth in fiction's graceful dress
Last Line: Where thy pure spirit now beholds its god!
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


WOULD I deck truth in fiction's graceful dress,
Easy it were for votary of the Nine
To find, in fair creation's loveliness,
Apt emblems of a life and death like thine.

The first, a streamlet scattering, though unseen,
Its silent virtues, well might represent;
The last, a light cloud, lovely and serene,
View'd on the verge of a bright firmament.

But these are poor comparisons.—The stream
One summer's radiance may forever dry;
The cloud, so beauteous in the sunset's gleam,
May be forgotten in night's starless sky.

Not so with thee; thy memory long shall live,
Through starless nights, through dark and distant days;
Thy virtues! 'twere more fitting they should give
Impulse to imitation, than to praise.

Indeed, they were not thine! That gentleness;
That patient resignation—kindness—truth;
That candour—sympathy with all distress,
And quiet cheerfulness, surpassing youth;—

That self-forgetfulness—unbounded love:
These were not thine, though thou wert lov'd for them;
THOU knew'st they were but lent thee from above,
This knowledge was their crown and diadem!

Thou art no longer of this world: and even
While yet its path of flowers and thorns was trod
By thee, thy "conversation was in heaven,"
Where thy pure spirit now beholds its God!





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