University of Virginia Library

Lines on Mount Auburn

Sing, heav'nly Muse, of that fair mountain sing,
Where rest in peace the honoured dead; and where
As the seasons roll around their heads, their
Children oft shall come, and o'er them drop the
Tear of grateful memory; and from their
Example learn the better how to live,
The better how to die. Learn from them,
As if the glorious sun his rays still shed
Upon them, and life's swift current still through
Their veins ran warm: as if before them were
Those forms so well remember'd, and they stood
Attentive to receive a parent's will
Respected. Hallowed spot! where still the dead
Seem yet to live, yet to give instruction
The more regarded, since from them it comes.
Here, as with devious steps we wander through
Thy thickets dark, or near some tomb o'er which
The flowers of spring in beauty wave musing,
We shall from worldly thoughts, and worldly cares
Withdraw ourselves, and deep communion hold
With those long since departed; and raise our
Souls to him whose never ceasing goodness
Crowns our life. Here oft let youth retire from
Life's gay scene, from pleasures glittering round, to
Learn that though they live by worldly pleasures
Compassed round, and though the flowers of spring are
Breathing there in richest fragrance, and the
Woods are in their greenest verdure crowned, that
As those flowers by winter's cruel blast their
Fragrance and their beauty soon will lose, so
They on earth shall flourish but awhile; that
Soon their flowering spring by the chill blast
Of age shall wither; and thus may they be
Led, to place their happiness on things not
Fleeting but eternal in the heavens.
Here too let manhood come from restless cares
Of life withdrawn, and learning here, from those
Whose life was most employed in duties to
Their country, and to man most useful, death
Spares not even manhood, life's most active
Scene, he shall from this lesson learn to live
A better and thus a happier man.
And here may age, whose silver locks proclaim
Life's winter, learn that their example still
Shall live and generations yet unborn
Revere their memory. And let them learn
“The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass,
And one unbounded Spring encircle all;”
“Where they shall flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt, amid the war of elements,
The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.”