Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PREFATORY STANZAS, by HORACE SMITH Poet's Biography First Line: Talk not to me of necromantic wights Last Line: Bids them all hail, and wafts them every feeling kind. Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Horatio Subject(s): Life; Magic; Memory; Necromancy; Past | ||||||||
TALK not to me of Necromantic wights, And dread magicians, Who, by their potent spells, could conjure sprites, Ghosts, apparitions, And raise the dead from the forgotten past, Each in the perfect mould of pre-existence cast. I, though no conjuror, have far outdone Such Archimages, For, as I culled and pondered, one by one, These scattered pages, From the dark past, and memory's eclipse, Up rose in vision clear my life's Apocalypse. Mutely each re-creative lay outpoured Its own revealings; Youth, manhood, age, were momently restored, With all their feelings. Friends long deceased were summoned from the tomb; Forgotten scenes regained their vividness and bloom. Again did I recline in copses green, Gazing from under Some oak's thwart boughs upon the sky serene, In reverent wonder; Or starting from the sward with ear acute, To hear the cuckoo sound its soft two-noted flute. Association! thy transcendant power What art can rival? Muse-haunted strolls by river, field, or bower, At thy revival, Return once more, and in their second birth Bring back each former scent and sound of air and earth. In social joys where song and music's zest Made beauty fairer, In festive scenes with all their mirth and jest, Once more a sharer, I see the smiles, and hear the laughter loud, Of many a friend, alas! now mouldering in his shroud. So, when the hands are dust that now entwine These prompting pages, Some future reader, as a jest or line His thought engages, Feeling old memories from their grave arise, May thus, in pensive mood, perchance soliloquise: "I knew the bardling; 'twas his nature's bent, His creed's chief feature, To hold that a benign Creator meant To bless the creature, And giving man a boon denied to brute, Loved him to exercise his laughing attribute. "He felt that cheerfulness, when unalloyed With aught immoral, Was piety, on earth, in heaven enjoyed; And wished his laurel To be a Misletoe, whose grace should make The mirth-devoted year one hallowed Christmas wake. "In mystic transcendental clouds to soar Was not his mission, Yet could he mould at times the solid ore Of admonition; Offenceless, grave or gay, at least that praise May grace his name, and speed his unpretending lays." If such thy welcome, little Book! discard Fears of thine ordeal; Go forth, and tell thy readers that the Bard, With fervent, cordial Feelings of gratitude and hope combined, Bids them all hail, and wafts them every feeling kind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FERGUS FALLING by GALWAY KINNELL A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV LAST THINGS by WILLIAM MEREDITH CHRISTMAS TREE by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS THIS MORNING, GOD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY AT BELZONI'S EXHIBITION by HORACE SMITH |
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