power, Till manhood shall crown me, not mine is the Oh! hardy thou wert- -even now little care Might revive thy young head, and thy wounds gently heal: But thou wert not fated affection to share For who could suppose that a Stranger would feel? Ah, droop not, my Oak! lift thy head for a while; Ere twice round yon Glory this planet shall run, The hand of thy Master will teach thee to smile, Oh, live then, my Oak! tow'r aloft from the weeds, That clog thy young growth, and assist thy decay, For still in thy bosom are life's early seeds, And still may thy branches their beauty display. Oh! yet, if maturity's years may be thine, Though I shall lie low in the cavern of death, On thy leaves yet the day-beam of ages may shine, Uninjured by time, or the rude winter's breath. For centuries still may thy boughs lightly wave O'er the corse of thy lord in thy canopy laid; While the branches thus gratefully shelter his grave, The chief who survives may recline in thy shade. And as he, with his boys, shall revisit this spot, Remembrance still hallows the dust of the dead. And here, will they say, when in life's glowing prime, Perhaps he has pour'd forth his young simple lay, And here must he sleep, till the moments of time Are lost in the hours of Eternity's day. 1807. [Now first published.] ON REVISITING HARROW. (1) HERE once engaged the stranger's view Deeply she cut- but not erased, The characters were still so plain, That Friendship once return'd, and gazed,— Repentance placed them as before; That Friendship thought it still the same. (1) Some years ago, when at Harrow, a friend of the author engraved on a particular spot the names of both, with a few additional words, as a memorial. Afterwards, on receiving some real or imagined injury, the author destroyed the frail record before he left Harrow. On revisiting the place 1807, he wrote under it these stanzas. Thus might the Record now have been; September, 1807. EPITAPH ON JOHN ADAMS, OF SOUTHWELL, A CARRIER, WHO DIED OF DRUNKENness. JOHN ADAMS lies here, of the parish of Southwell, A Carrier who carried his can to his mouth well; He carried so much, and he carried so fast, He could carry no more so was carried at last; For, the liquor he drank, being too much for one, He could not carry off, so he's now carri-on. September, 1807. TO MY SON. (1) THOSE flaxen locks, those eyes of blue, Bright as thy mother's in their hue; And touch thy father's heart, my Boy! (1) Neither the recorded conversations of Lord Byron, nor his letters or diaries, furnish any trace of evidence that such a son ever existed. — E And thou canst lisp a father's name Her lowly grave the turf has prest, Why, let the world unfeeling frown, Oh, 'twill be sweet in thee to trace, Although so young thy heedless sire, The breast, which beat to former joy, 1807. FAREWELL! IF EVER FONDEST PRAYER. FAREWELL! if ever fondest prayer But waft thy name beyond the sky. "Twere vain to speak, to weep, to sigh: Oh! more than tears of blood can tell, When wrung from guilt's expiring eye, Are in that word - Farewell!-Farewell! These lips are mute, these eyes are dry; The thought that ne'er shall sleep again. I only feel-Farewell!-Farewell! 1808. BRIGHT BE THE PLACE OF THY SOUL. BRIGHT be the place of thy soul ! |