 | The Poetical Works of Thomas Cooper |  |
iii
DEDICATORY SONNET. .
TO THOMAS CARLYLE
Right noble age-fellow, whose speech and thoughtProclaim thee other than the supple throng
Who glide Life's custom-smoothëd path along,—
Prescription's easy slaves,—strangers to doubt,
Because they never think!—a lay untaught
I offer thee. Receive the humble song,—
A tribute of the feeble to the strong
Of inward ken,—for that the theme is fraught
With dreams of Reason's high enfranchisement.
Illustrious Schiller's limner, unto thee
Mind's freedom must be precious,—or what lent
His toil its light, and what fires thine? The free
Of soul with quenchless zeal must ever glow
To spread the freedom which their own minds know.
Stafford Gaol. May 3,
1845.
| The Poetical Works of Thomas Cooper | |