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AFTER TRAFALGAR.
The Lament of Lady Hamilton.
And is he dead: is Nelson dead,
The gentle and the brave?
Has the sunlight of England's might
Set in its ocean-grave?
The gentle and the brave?
Has the sunlight of England's might
Set in its ocean-grave?
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Yes, he is dead! God spared him to us
Until their flag was low,
Until our shore for evermore
Was proof against the foe.
Until their flag was low,
Until our shore for evermore
Was proof against the foe.
He came, as comes the rain in summer,
To make the parch'd fields smile,
Or as a sail that wreck'd men hail
Upon a desert isle.
To make the parch'd fields smile,
Or as a sail that wreck'd men hail
Upon a desert isle.
He was a meteor sent from heaven
To cross the tyrant's path
As a forecast, ere hope was past,
Of overtaking wrath.
To cross the tyrant's path
As a forecast, ere hope was past,
Of overtaking wrath.
And, like a meteor, his passage
Was brief as it was bright,
As if such glare we could not bear
With feeble human sight.
Was brief as it was bright,
As if such glare we could not bear
With feeble human sight.
He died, as died on Pisgah Moses,
Just when his task was done;
Like Moses, too, he might but view
The guerdon he had won.
Just when his task was done;
Like Moses, too, he might but view
The guerdon he had won.
He passed, as erst had pass'd Elijah,
'Mid thunder and 'mid fire,
When he had seen the evil queen
Quail at the presage dire.
'Mid thunder and 'mid fire,
When he had seen the evil queen
Quail at the presage dire.
This to his country: but to me,
His more and less than wife,
The sun that shone has set and gone,
The summer left my life.
His more and less than wife,
The sun that shone has set and gone,
The summer left my life.
He was the dawn that fill'd my heaven,
The star that lit my night,
The goodly tree that shaded me
Against the fierce noon-light.
The star that lit my night,
The goodly tree that shaded me
Against the fierce noon-light.
He was my king, my Alexander,
My seaman Pericles,
And but for him my fame were dim
And my cup thick with lees.
My seaman Pericles,
And but for him my fame were dim
And my cup thick with lees.
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And what if he looked on my beauty,
And said these cheeks were fair;
Or vow'd my kiss to him was bliss,
And smooth'd each wayward hair.
And said these cheeks were fair;
Or vow'd my kiss to him was bliss,
And smooth'd each wayward hair.
Was not Aspasia's chiefest glory
The love that some call'd sin?
And Rosamond, was she less fond
Than Eleanor the Queen?
The love that some call'd sin?
And Rosamond, was she less fond
Than Eleanor the Queen?
I would not have our love forgotten
Be it or crown or crime;
If it were wrong, 'twas not less strong
Than others' of old time,
Be it or crown or crime;
If it were wrong, 'twas not less strong
Than others' of old time,
Whose names are monuments to virtue,
Griselda and Elaine,
With him who died at Juliet's side,
And her of Allemaine.
Griselda and Elaine,
With him who died at Juliet's side,
And her of Allemaine.
But he is dead, and would to God
That I were as they are
Whose death-long sleep is in the deep
Off stormy Trafalgar.
That I were as they are
Whose death-long sleep is in the deep
Off stormy Trafalgar.
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