Classic Poem

Lady-bird!, lady-bird! fly away home
Night is approaching & sunset is come
The herons are flown to their trees by the Hall
Felt but unseen the damp dew-drops fall
This is the close of a still summer day
Lady-bird! lady-bird haste fly away

The grand old Hall is wrapped in shad[e]
The woodland park around it spread
Is gathering gloom in every glade
This is the moment this the hour
To feel Romance in all her power
Is there not something in a name
In noble blood & ancient fame
Something in that ancestral fame
Which brings the memory of the dead
Sailing adown time's hoary tide
With " sacred" halos round it shed
Halos Oh far too bright to shine
Round ought whose home is still below
The starlight thoughts the dreams divine
From man's creative soul that flow
And stream upon the idols bright
He forms through all his earthly way
As if weary of the light
That smiles upon his own dull clay
That clay he feels will not for ever
Cumber the spirit that would soar
Even to that deep & swelling river
Which bears the life-tree on its shore
And he that hour would still forsee
That sets his inward angel free

This Hall & park might wake such dreams
They speak of pride of ancestry
Yes every fading ray which gleams
On antique roof & hoary tree
Shows in knarled boughs & mossy slate
The grand remains of ancient state

And thinks he of Patrician pride
He who sits lonely there
Where oaks & elms spread dark & wide
Their huge arms in the air

He wanders in the world of thought
He's left this world behind
On that high brow are clearly wrought
A thousand dreams of mind

And ere they dream of bliss or bale
Of Happiness or woe
Methinks that face is all too pale
For pleasure's rosy glow

Methinks the mellowing haze of years
Is o'er that tall form spread
And Time has poured her smiles & tears
Full freely round that head

He must have once been beautiful
The relics still remain
Though wasted sore with sorrow
And darkened much with pain

At morn he sought this lone retreat
When the sun first crowned the hill
And now the twilight calm & sweet
Beholds him lingering still
Yet not to reveries of woe
Clings Percy's wounded spirit so
Scarce bound by its worn chains of clay
The soul has almost soared away
Lightened & soothed insensibly
By the lone hum of wind & tree
Where now his mental broodings dwell
Vainly would man divine or tell
His upward look — his earnest eyes
Seem gazing ev'n beyond the skies
Who calls him back to earth again
Will bring a wild revulse of pain
And so thought he who glided now
With step as light as falling snow
Forth from the bowery arch of trees
That whispered in the gloaming breeze
That step he might have used before
When stealing on to lady's bower
Even at the same still twilight hour
For The moon now beaming mild above
Shewed him a son of war & love
His eye was full of that sinful fire
Which oft' unhallowed passions light
It spoke of quickly kindled ire
Of love too warm & wild & bright
Bright but yet sullied, love which could never
Bring good in arising, leave peace in decline
Woe to the gifted, crime to the Giver
Wherever reposed all the light of its shine

Beauty had lavished her treasures upon him
Youth's early sunshine was poured on his brow
Alas that the magic of sin should have won him
But he is her slave & her chained victim now

How from his curled & shining hair
Circling the brow of marble fair
His dark keen eyes on Percy gaze
With stern & yet repenting rays
Sometimes they shimer through the haze
Of sadly gushing tears
And then a sudden flash of flame
Speaking wild feelings none could tame
The dim suffusion clears
Young savage! how he bends above
The object of his wrath & love
How tenderly his fingers press
The hand that shrinks from their caress
And from his lips in Percy's ear
Flow tones his blood congeals to hear
Those tones were softer than the moan
Of echo when the sound is flown
And sweeter than a flute's reply
To skylark's song or wild wind's sigh
Yet Percy heard them as they fell
Like the dull toll of a passing bell
Sternly they summoned him back again
To a dark world of woe & pain
The blood from his visage fell away
And left it as pallid as coffined clay
Like clouds the charmed visions broke
From his day-long dream at once he woke
He woke to feel & see at his side
The very man who dared to roll
Marahs unsounded briny tide
Over the Eden of his soul
Who dared to pluck his last fair flower
To quench his last star's cheering beam
The last sweet drop of bliss to sour
That mingled with his Being's stream

Up rose he & stretched forth his hand
In mingled menace & command
With voice subdued & steady look
Thus to the man of sin he spoke

What brought you here I called you not
Youv'e tracked me to a lonely spot
Are you a Hawk to follow the prey
When mangled it flutters feebly away
A sleuth-hound to track the deer by his blood
When wounded he wins to the darkest wood
There if he can to die alone
Unsought by the archer whose shaft has flown
So right & true to its living mark
That it quenches even now the vital spark
Zamorna is this nobly done
To triumph o'er your Consort's sire
Gladly to see his gory sun
Quench in the sea of tears its fire
But haply you have news to tell
Tidings that yet may cheer me well
You've crushed at last my rose's bloom
And scattered its leaves on her mother's tomb

Or its faded buds all ready lie
To deck my coffin when I die.
Bring them here — 'twill not be long
'Tis the last line of the wo[e]ful song
And those final & dying words are sung
To the discord of lute-strings all unstrung
Oh Adrian do not harshly sweep
The chords that are quivering to voiceless sleep.

No but I'd string them once more to a sound
That should startle the nations that rest around
I'd call forth the glorious chorous again
Which flooded the earth with a bloody main
Have I crushed you Percy? I'd raise once more
The beacon-light on the rocky-shore
Percy my love is so true & deep
That though kingdoms should wail & worlds should weep
I'd fling the brand in the hissing sea
The brand that must burn unquenchably
Your Rose is mine when the sweet leaves fade
They must be chaplet to wreath my head
The blossoms to deck my home with the dead
I repent not — that which my hand has done
Is as fixed as the orb of the burning sun
But I swear by heaven & the mighty sea
That wherever I wander my heart is with thee
Bitterly deeply I've drank of thy woe
When thy stream was troubled did mine calmly flow?
And yet I repent not I'd crush thee again
If our vessels sailed adverse of life's stormy main
But listen the earth is our campaign of war
Her children are rank & her kingdoms spread far
Who shall say Hah! to the mingling star
Is there not havock & carnage for thee
Unless thou castest thy lance at me
The heart in my bosom beats high at the thought
Of the deeds which by blended strength may be wrought
Then might thy Mary bloom blissfully still
This hand should ne'er work her sorrow or ill
No fear of grief in her bright eyes should quiver
I'd love her & guard her forever forever
What! shall Zamorna go down to the dead
With blood on his hand that he wept to have shed
What! shall they carve on his tomb with the sword
The slayer of Percy, the scourge of the Lord!

Bright flashed the fire in the young Duke's eye
As he spoke in the tones of the trumpet swelling
Then he stood still & watched earnestly
How those tones were on Percy's spirit telling
Nothing was heard but his quick short breath
And his fiery heart aroused panting
The dark wood lay as hushed as death
Nor hum nor murmur it's valleys haunting
Then the low voice of Percy woke
And thus in strange response he spoke