 | [Poems by Payne in] John Howard Payne ... his life and writings |  |
307
DERMODY.
“Whether by accident or design, I know not, but never were the remains of a Bard deposited in a spot more calculated to inspire a contemplative mind with congenial and interesting feelings.”—
Monthly Mirror, London, 1802.
If, pensive stranger! in thy breast
The flowers of Fancy ever bloom,
Come hither, stranger! come and rest
Upon this rose-encircled tomb!
The flowers of Fancy ever bloom,
Come hither, stranger! come and rest
Upon this rose-encircled tomb!
This tomb, to which at eve retires
Neglected Genius:—here, alone,
He weeps, despises and admires
The wretch whose wrongs describe his own!
Neglected Genius:—here, alone,
He weeps, despises and admires
The wretch whose wrongs describe his own!
The aged Minstrel, pausing here,
Of many a plaintive lay beguil'd,
Laments, with many a tribute tear,
The Poet “wonderful and wild.”
Of many a plaintive lay beguil'd,
Laments, with many a tribute tear,
The Poet “wonderful and wild.”
Could but that Poet swell the song,
And now with phrensied touch inspire
The harp whose notes he'd once prolong
Till his whole soul would be on fire,—
And now with phrensied touch inspire
The harp whose notes he'd once prolong
Till his whole soul would be on fire,—
Ah! could he touch—the thrilling strain
Would wake a kindred ecstasy,
And thou wouldst sigh to hear again
The lyre of luckless Dermody!
Would wake a kindred ecstasy,
And thou wouldst sigh to hear again
The lyre of luckless Dermody!
And o'er his lov'd remains, which sleep
Cold in this dark, sepulchral bed,
Then wouldst thou sit, like me, and weep
The wild-ey'd Bard of Erin dead!
Cold in this dark, sepulchral bed,
Then wouldst thou sit, like me, and weep
The wild-ey'd Bard of Erin dead!
And thou wouldst bathe the flowers that wave,
Till ev'ry flow'r that bloom'd before
Should, bending, kiss the sacred grave,
And bow, and weep, and bloom no more!
Till ev'ry flow'r that bloom'd before
Should, bending, kiss the sacred grave,
And bow, and weep, and bloom no more!
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