 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
325
XXIV. IN MEMORY OF SIR WILLIAM R. HAMILTON.—1.
Friend of past years, the holy and the blest,When all my day shone out, a long sunrise;
When aspirations seemed but sympathies,
In such familiar nearness were they dressed;
When Song, with swan-like plumes and starry crest,
O'er-circled earth and beat against the skies,
And fearless Science raised her reverent eyes
From heaven to heaven, that each its God confessed
With homage ever widening! Friend beloved!
From me those days are passed; yet still, O, still,
This night my heart with influx strange they fill
Of beaming memories from my vanished youth:
On thee—the temporal veil by Death removed—
Rests the great Vision of Eternal Truth!
Jan. 10, 1880.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |