The Desolation of Eyam :: :: University of Virginia Library

Shrink not!—we have not learned
Those glowing terms to use
Which the weak love, unearned;
But noble minds refuse.
Proudly we woo the muse;
And proudly we despise
The craven soul which views
The Aonian mount, and cries
Humbly, on all who pass, for a little help to rise.

Shrink not!—for thou hast won
A name that will not fade:
And vainly were it done
Another wreath to braid,
Than thy simple one, arrayed
With the flowers of heart and mind;
Which, when gaudier sink in shade—
When the tinsel all is tined,
Will be honoured by the good, will be cherished by the kind.

Oh! little do we deem
Of the gifted spirit's light,
If it live but as the beam
Which flashes but to smite.
And if ever, from the height
Of the jealous bosom's pride,
We would stoop, it were to write
Our homage where abide
Genius and generous thoughts in one warm heart allied.

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As little should we reck
Of laud and favour given
When through all gloom and check
Unaided we had striven;
Which, when the cloud was riven,
And our feet were on the hill,
Would welcome us to heaven,
With beams which could not thrill,
When our sojourn was below, and our very souls were chill.

Such was not thy first greeting,
Thou friend unseen, yet dear!
'Twas when our light was fleeting
Before the critic's sneer,
That our names unto thine ear
Became a living sound;
And thy spirit, with a cheer
Which the cynic's whining drowned,
Shouted welcome to our feet upon fancy-haunted ground.

viii

Then, as we launch once more
Our shallop on the sea
Of fame, whose rocks and roar
Are safely passed by thee,
We will echo back with glee
Thy soul's unchanging tone;
And our light skiff,—let it be
Tossed, battered, rent, and blown,
So it win us from the world but one true heart like thine own.