The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer

Hosmer, William H. C. (1814-1877)

VOL. I.

YONNONDIO, OR THE WARRIORS OF THE GENESEE, A TALE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

LEGENDS OF THE SENECAS.

INDIAN TRADITIONS AND SONGS.

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243

DIRGE.

[_]

[Air—“True love can ne'er forget.”]

“Lowly the Lord of Song,
Reckless of woe and wrong,
In the grave's chamber strong
Moulders alone!”

Thus sang an airy sprite
Flowers dropping, pale with blight,
While round his tomb, by night,
Autumn made moan.
No head-stone marks his place of sleep,
No mourner wanders there to weep—
But sings a voice at midnight deep,
These words with touching tone:—
“Lowly the Lord of Song,
Reckless of woe and wrong,
In the grave's chamber strong
Moulders alone!”

Thorns made his journey rough,
He had lived long enough—
Black sorrow's leaden stuff
Weighed down his soul;
Fame had a phantom proved,
Hollow the hearts he loved;
Well might he reach unmoved
Life's dreary goal.
On the blossom of his youth
Fed the worm's envenomed tooth,
And in vain the light of truth
Was on his pathway thrown—

244

“Lowly the Lord of Song,
Reckless of woe and wrong,
In the grave's chamber strong
Moulders alone!”

What to one were home and hearth,
Beauty's smile, or childhood's mirth,
Founts and flowers that gladden earth,
Who prayed for death and night—
One, with heart of kingly mould,
More wretched than the beggar old
Who couches on the pavement cold
Until the morning light?
Though Hate and Slander babble still,
They cannot work him further ill;
For no more his voice can thrill
The nations with its tone.
“Lowly the Lord of Song,
Reckless of woe und wrong,
In the grave's chamber strong
Moulders alone!”

University of Virginia Library

DIRGE.