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Flower o' the thorn

A book of wayside verse: By John Payne

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XX. RALEIGH.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

XX. RALEIGH.

SEEKER of Eldorados in the West,
Bard, soldier, sailor, with the triple bays

128

Bound for the travel of the worldly ways,
Despiteful Death for ending of thy quest
A bloody grave decreed; his hand unblest,
Unheeding worth and worship, power and praise,
Shut up the shining story of thy days,
Blotted the book nor let us read the rest.
—Vain was his malice, Raleigh! Long thy name
Shall glitter in the flowering garths of Fame,
When of the scurvy, pedant, peddling Scot,
Whose greed and spite untimely 'twas did blur
Thy life's fair picture, all shall be forgot,
Save this, that he was Raleigh's murderer.