Stones from The Quarry or, Moods of Mind. By Henry Browne [i.e. Henry Ellison] |
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REITERATION OF OLD, WORN-OUT THEMES. |
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 | Stones from The Quarry |  |
REITERATION OF OLD, WORN-OUT THEMES.
Why hark ye back, and summon up the dead(Like necromancers)?—who, e'en if they come,
Speak inarticulately, or are dumb,
Or unknown tongues, must be interpretèd.
Utterances strange as Friar Bacon's head;
Oracular, like voices from the tomb;
Shadows, poor spectres, who have heard their doom,
From whose blank eyes all speculation's fled!
Let the dead bury their dead! The Present's veins
Must with the lifeblood of the Present run;
Pulse with its joys and woes, throb with its pains:
Those lengthening shadows mark the set of sun.
Life's toils of Hercules, the Future's strains,
In morning's strength and freshness must be done!
| Stones from The Quarry | |