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Dramatic Scenes

With Other Poems, Now First Printed. By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter]. Illustrated

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A FAREWELL TO VERSE.

A FAREWELL TO VERSE.

Sweet Muse! my friend of many years,—Farewell!
Sweet Mistress, who did never do me wrong;
But still with me hast been content to dwell
Through summer days and winter evenings long;
Sweet Nurse, whose murmur soothed my soul, Farewell!
I part with thee at last,—and with thy song!
Never again, unless some Spirit of might,
That will not be denied, command my pen,
Never again shall I essay to write
What thou (I thought!) didst prompt: Never again
Lose me in dreams until the morning light,
Or soar with thee beyond the worlds of men.

404

Farewell!—The plumage drops from off my wing:
Life and its humbler tasks henceforth are mine!
The lark no longer down from Heaven doth bring
That music which, in youth, I deemed divine:
The winds are mute; the river dares not sing:—
Time lifts his hand,—and I obey the sing!