Poems with Fables in Prose By Frederic Herbert Trench |
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Song for the Funeral of a Boy
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Poems with Fables in Prose | ||
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Song for the Funeral of a Boy
I
On stems from silver woodsCarry him, young companions, to the glen
Where white Olympus broods.
Flushes of rustlers shall precede you then
By bush and glade
Low-thrilling and afraid;
And, as along its curve of shore ye pass,
The dark tarn ruddied with the pine shall glass,
Moving to hymns out of its lonely ken,
The boy's light bier, with beaded rushes laid.
II
In beeches shall the fawnAn hoof suspend, to learn from that clear sound
His eager mate withdrawn
For ever unto free and sylvan ground.
Up in her hold
The wide-wing'd Azure cold
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By paths root-paven borne, and great bee's hum
Swing through your brief procession, winding round
The endless alleys up that Mountain old.
III
In some low space of greenWhere fleecy mists, bright runnels newly rain'd
And springing wands are seen,
But nothing yet to gnarlèd eld attain'd,
Let his head nigh
The chrisom violet lie;
And put at hand the sling to him most dear,
The sheaf of arrows light, the dauntless spear
The lute untroubled on the heart unstain'd;
Then, taking hands around him, sing good-bye!
IV
Praise limbs that robb'd the cloudOf vengeful eagles, and for this rough nest,
This egg, embraced the loud
And everlasting sea-crag's salty breast!
Praise to the face
That smiled on nothing base!
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His secret kindness to your secret dole;
The heavenly-minded brook shall mourn him best
When ye have kiss'd his cheek, leaving the place.
V
This ditty from the brake,This rainbow from the waters, fades; and Night
That little pyre shall take
In flame and cloud; but O! when the bloom of light
With breathless glow
Along the tops of snow
Tells out to all the valleys Night is done,—
Think of the boy, ye young companions bright,
Not without joy; for he hath loved and gone
As dews that on the uplands shine and go!
Poems with Fables in Prose | ||