Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE LOSS OF THE PEGASUS; DELIVERED BY MRS. WARNER AT HAYMARKET, by THOMAS HOOD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE LOSS OF THE PEGASUS; DELIVERED BY MRS. WARNER AT HAYMARKET, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hush! Not a sound! No whisper! No demur!
Last Line: With breakers huge enough to break the heart!
Subject(s): Disasters; Shipwrecks


HUSH! not a sound! no whisper! no demur!
No restless motion -- no intrusive stir!
But with staid presence and a quiet breath,
One solemn moment dedicate to Death!
[A pause.
For now no fancied miseries bespeak
The panting bosom, and the wetted cheek;
No fabled Tempest, or dramatic wreck,
No Royal Sire washed from the mimic deck,
And dirged by Sea Nymphs to his briny grave!
Alas! deep, deep beneath the sullen wave,
His heart, once warm and throbbing as your own,
Now cold and senseless as the shingle stone;
His lips, so eloquent, choked up with sand;
The bright eye glazed, -- and the impressive hand
Idly entangled with the ocean weed --
Full fathom five, a FATHER lies indeed!

Yes! where the foaming billows rave the while
Around the rocky Ferns and Holy Isle,
Deaf to their roar, as to the dear applause
That greets deserving in the Drama's cause,
Blind to the horrors that appal the bold,
To all he hoped, or feared, or loved, of old --
To love -- and love's deep agony, a-cold;
He, who could move the passions, moved by none,
Drifts an unconscious corse. -- Poor Elton's race is run!

Weep for the dead! Yet do not merely weep
For him who slumbers in the oozy deep:
Mourn for the dead! -- yet not alone for him
O'er whom the cormorant and gannet swim;
But, like Grace Darling in her little boat,
Stretch out a saving hand to those that float --
The orphan Seven -- so prematurely hurled
Upon the billows of this stormy world,
And struggling -- save your pity take their part --
With breakers huge enough to break the heart!





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