Neglected Genius A Poem. Illustrating the Untimely And Unfortunate Fate Of Many British Poets; From the Period of Henry the Eighth to the Aera of the Unfortunate Chatterton. Containing Imitations of their Different Styles, &c. &c. By W. H. Ireland |
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THE WRITER'S ADDRESS TO
Thomas Chatterton.
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THE WRITER'S ADDRESS TO Thomas Chatterton.
GENIUS ON FAME'S ETERNAL WING,
SOARING FROM MENTAL BONDAGE FREE;
EXCLAIMS “O! DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?
O! GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY?
SOARING FROM MENTAL BONDAGE FREE;
EXCLAIMS “O! DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?
O! GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY?
O! tender stripling from the Muse's tree,
Dear child of Fancy's wildest poesy;
Is it once more my fate to weep thy doom,
And damp the rising sod that marks thy tomb?
Say, can the lot be mine to drop one tear,
From sluices drain'd upon thy hallow'd bier?
While others living might thy worth proclaim,
And braid thy mem'ry with the wreath of fame:
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Measures the circuit of one fleeting hour;
In which short space the feelings run their race,
And chaos buries hope of future grace.
Then mine be still the task, in humbler lays,
To offer tribute to thy blooming bays,
And stamp thee from the course thy genius trod;
In years the stripling, but in sense the god.
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