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 |  |
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WRITTEN IN AN EDITION OF COLLINS, WITH ETCHINGS BY PLATT.
Struck blind in youth, Platt ask'd the proud for bread;He ask'd in vain, and sternly join'd the dead.
I saw him weep—“Hail, holy light!” he cried;
But living darkness heard him, and he died.
Oh, by the light that left too soon his eyes,
And bade him starve on ice-cold charities;
Doom'd is the wealth that could no pittance spare,
To save benighted genius from despair!
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How soon, alas! e'en these will cease to be!
But poesy hath flowers that ever bloom;
And music, though she seal'd thy cruel doom,
Shall sing a ballad o'er her pupil's tomb.
| The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott | |