 | Poems |  |
BE MINE, AND I WILL GIVE THY NAME.
Be mine, and I will give thy name
To Memory's care,
So well, that it shall breathe, with fame,
Immortal air,
That time and change and death shall be
Scorn'd by the life I give to thee.
To Memory's care,
So well, that it shall breathe, with fame,
Immortal air,
That time and change and death shall be
Scorn'd by the life I give to thee.
I will not, like the sculptor, trust
Thy shape to stone,
That, years shall crumble into dust,
Its form unknown;
No—the white statue's life shall be
Short, to the life I'll give to thee.
Thy shape to stone,
That, years shall crumble into dust,
Its form unknown;
No—the white statue's life shall be
Short, to the life I'll give to thee.
Not to the canvas worms may fret
Thy charms I'll give;
Soon shall the world those charms forget,
If there they live;
The life that colours lend shall be
Poor to the life I'll give to thee.
Thy charms I'll give;
Soon shall the world those charms forget,
If there they live;
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Poor to the life I'll give to thee.
For thou shalt live, defying time
And mocking death,
In music on—O life sublime!—
A nation's breath;
Love, in a people's songs shall be
The eternal life I'll give to thee.
And mocking death,
In music on—O life sublime!—
A nation's breath;
Love, in a people's songs shall be
The eternal life I'll give to thee.
| Poems | |