The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott Edited by his Son Edwin Elliott ... A New and Revised Edition: Two Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott |  |
385
ELEGY.
O Huskisson! O Huskisson!O Huskisson, in vain our friend!
Why hast thou left thy work undone?
Of good begun is this the end?
Thou should'st have lived, if they remain
Who fetter'd us, and hated thee.
O Huskisson, our friend in vain!
Where now are hope and liberty?
Thou should'st have lived, if with thee dies
The poor man's hope of better days.
Time stops to weep, but yet shall rise
The sun whose beams shall write thy praise.
The widow weeps—but what is she,
And what her paltry common woe?
Worlds weep—and millions fast for thee.
Our hope is gone! why didst thou go?
Pleased hell awhile suspends his breath,
Then shouts in joy, and laughs in hate;
And plague and famine call on death
Their jubilee to celebrate.
A shadow bids improvement stand,
While faster flow a nation's tears.
O dead man! with thy pallid hand,
Thou rollest back the tide of years!
| The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott | |