Poems By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema |
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ON THE INSCRIPTION, KEATS'
TOMBSTONE.
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179
ON THE INSCRIPTION, KEATS' TOMBSTONE.
Could we but see the Future ere it comes,
As gods must see effects in causes hid,—
How calmly could we wait till we were bid!
Heroes would hear their triumph's far-off drums,
Would see Fame's splendours ere the threads and thrums
Had formed them in to-morrow's living loom;
Would feel the honours round the future tomb,
Across the sunless fosse where life succumbs.
As gods must see effects in causes hid,—
How calmly could we wait till we were bid!
Heroes would hear their triumph's far-off drums,
Would see Fame's splendours ere the threads and thrums
Had formed them in to-morrow's living loom;
Would feel the honours round the future tomb,
Across the sunless fosse where life succumbs.
If it were so! But wiser fates conspire
That each shall bear his own lamp through the night,
Showing but short way round its blood-red light,
And find, by it alone, the herb that springs
Fast by the wells of fathomless desire;
And of this healing herb the poet sings.
That each shall bear his own lamp through the night,
Showing but short way round its blood-red light,
And find, by it alone, the herb that springs
Fast by the wells of fathomless desire;
And of this healing herb the poet sings.
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