I knew VIII. your brother his mute dust I honour and his living worth: A man more pure and bold and just IX. I have not look'd upon you nigh, Since that dear soul hath fall'n asleep. Great Nature is more wise than I: I will not tell you not to weep. X. And though mine own eyes fill with dew, Drawn from the spirit thro' the brain, I will not even preach to you, "Weep, weeping dulls the inward pain." XI. Let Grief be her own mistress still. She loveth her own anguish deep More than much pleasure. Let her will Be done to weep or not to weep. I will not say XII. "God's ordinance Of Death is blown in every wind;" For that is not a common chance That takes away a noble mind. XIII. His memory long will live alone In all our hearts, as mournful light That broods above the fallen sun, And dwells in heaven half the night. Vain solace! XIV. Memory standing near Cast down her eyes, and in her throat Her voice seem'd distant, and a tear Dropt on the letters as I wrote. XV. I wrote I know not what. In truth, How should I soothe you anyway, Who miss the brother of your youth? Yet something I did wish to say: XVI. For he too was a friend to me: Both are my friends, and my true breast Bleedeth for both; yet it may be That only silence suiteth best. XVII. Words weaker than your grief would make Grief more. "Twere better I should cease; Although myself could almost take The place of him that sleeps in peace. XVIII. Sleep sweetly, tender heart, in peace : Sleep, holy spirit, blessed soul, While the stars burn, the moons increase, XIX. Sleep till the end, true soul and sweet. Nothing comes to thee new or strange. Sleep full of rest from head to feet; Lie still, dry dust, secure of change. You ask me, why, though ill at ease, Whose spirits falter in the mist, And languish for the purple seas? It is the land that freemen till, That sober-suited Freedom chose, The land, where girt with friends or foes A man may speak the thing he will; A land of settled government, A land of just and old renown, Where Freedom broadens slowly down From precedent to precedent : Where faction seldom gathers head, But by degrees to fulness wrought, The strength of some diffusive thought Hath time and space to work and spread. Should banded unions persecute Opinion, and induce a time When single thought is civil crime, And individual freedom mute; Though Power should make from land to land The name of Britain trebly greatThough every channel of the State Should almost choke with golden sand Yet waft me from the harbour-mouth, Wild wind! I seek a warmer sky, And I will see before I die The palms and temples of the South. |