The works of Lord Byron A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero |
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ELEGIAC STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF SIR
PETER PARKER, BART. |
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 | The works of Lord Byron |  |
ELEGIAC STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER, BART.
1
There is a tear for all that die,A mourner o'er the humblest grave;
But nations swell the funeral cry,
And Triumph weeps above the brave.
418
2
For them is Sorrow's purest sighO'er Ocean's heaving bosom sent:
In vain their bones unburied lie,
All earth becomes their monument!
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A tomb is theirs on every page,An epitaph on every tongue:
The present hours, the future age,
For them bewail, to them belong.
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For them the voice of festal mirthGrows hushed, their name the only sound;
While deep Remembrance pours to Worth
The goblet's tributary round.
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A theme to crowds that knew them not,Lamented by admiring foes,
Who would not share their glorious lot?
Who would not die the death they chose?
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And, gallant Parker! thus enshrinedThy life, thy fall, thy fame shall be;
And early valour, glowing, find
A model in thy memory.
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But there are breasts that bleed with theeIn woe, that glory cannot quell;
And shuddering hear of victory,
Where one so dear, so dauntless, fell.
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Where shall they turn to mourn thee less?When cease to hear thy cherished name?
Time cannot teach forgetfulness,
While Grief's full heart is fed by Fame.
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Alas! for them, though not for thee,They cannot choose but weep the more;
Deep for the dead the grief must be,
Who ne'er gave cause to mourn before.
October 7, 1814.
| The works of Lord Byron | |