The Harp of Erin Containing the Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Dermody. In Two Volumes |
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CICERO
AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER. |
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 | The Harp of Erin |  |
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CICERO AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER.
Is this the consul whose electric look,And vocal thunder, the wide senate shook;
Flash'd from that tearful eye the flame divine
That rent the stubborn soul of Catiline?
Ah! could those silent, trembling lips, impart
Conviction, Clodius, to thy guilty heart?
Or Antony, of half the world possest,
Feel their sweet venom rankling in his breast?
'Tis he; but ah, how chang'd! The laureat bow'r
No more relieves his solitary hour;
Philosophy, with ardent eye, no more
Drops on his bosom'd wound her balmy lore;
Bland Tusculum itself can now bestow
No shaded shelter from resistless woe.
His Tullia's name the murm'ring echoes breathe;
In every breeze is heard the wail of death;
And, wringing sore his desolated hands,
The poor, forlorn, dejected father stands;
Whose plaint not rolling ages can consume,
Superior to the wreck of boastful Rome.
| The Harp of Erin | |