Classic Poem

My spirit bows before thee, gentle Bust!
In thee I trace the features of a Bard,
Once full of fire and feeling — now all dust —
Who suffered deeply, but whose high reward
Shall be to have his young unsullied name
Engraven on the deathless page of fame.

I gaze upon thy lineaments, and seek
Therein the rich expression of a mind,
By force of its own feeling rendered weak —
By view of its own loveliness made blind;
Whose wild effusions charm us, and entrance —
The creatures and creators of Romance.

" Endymion, " " Lamia, " and " Saint Agnes' Eve; "
With other bright creations, flash upon
My recollection while I stand and grieve
That he who kindled them to life, is gone! —
Oh! it is food for bitter thought, when fate
Assigns to genius so brief a date.

I had not thus long pensively delayed
To weave a humble verse for thee, young Bard,
(Death hath no power to make affection fade —
It only proves the strength of true regard;)
But that while the full heart was sorrowing,
My tearful muse had neither strength nor wing.

Bright spirit! thou hast fled for ever from us —
Hast left this icy world of heavy grief;
And we who were rejoicing in thy promise,
May hail thee here no longer as the chief
Of soaring spirits, young and eagle eyed,
But by intensest feelings worn and tried.

In part the victim of solicitude,
Warm and unwearied, for a brother doomed
Like thee, to leave full soon the buffets rude
Of this low life, and be in peace entombed, —
Thy virtue did destroy thee; and thy death
Was calm and peaceful as an infant's breath.

We may not mingle with dear dreams of thee,
Stern thoughts of worthless reptiles who assailed
Thy Muse, and mocked her trusting purity,
And tortured thee until thy proud heart quailed:
Ah, no! — it doth not suit with thoughts of thee
To mingle fools and fiends, and crime and enmity.

'Tis more congenial, and it more endears
To talk and think of thee in realms above —
In those angelic, calm, and happy spheres,
Where all is peace, and harmony, and love! —
Which know not fears or fetters, tyrants, slaves,
Tortures, diseases, miseries, or graves.