Inexorable king! thy sway
Is fix'd on firm but cruel might;
It rolls indeed the radiant day,
But sinks it soon in deepest night:
It bids the little flow'ret spring,
But, while it waves its elfin wing,
Its fleeting glories go;
It suffers Hope to dance awhile,
Nursing the fondling's fatal smile,
That tears may faster flow:
And only bids fair beauty bloom,
At last to blast it in the tomb.
II.
Tyrant! he changes every scene,
While he himself remains the same;
Old grow the young, and grey the green,
And cold and cheeriless the flame.
With arrow keen he pierces all,
Nor stays to see the sufferer fall,
But wings his way alone:
Oft too he questions fierce and high,
And while we pause to make reply,
The visitor is flown:
We only mark the change he brings,
And hear the rushing of his wings.
III.
Oh! he has many borne away,
Who seem'd not meant to go so soon,
Who might have hop'd for closing day,
But fell before th' approach of noon.
Scarce had their fame been whisper'd round,
Before its shrill and mournful sound
Was whistling o'er their tomb:
Scarce did the laurel 'gin to grow
Around each early honoured brow,
Before its grateful bloom
Was changed to cypress sear and brown,
Whose garlands mock the head they crown.
IV.
Some linger on forlorn, till life
Becomes a load they long to leave;
The aged finds it folly rife,
That flatters only to deceive.
The tree, beneath whose cooling shade
His youthful limbs were blithely laid,
Sinks with the weight of years:
The friends he lov'd, the tales he told,
The very fields are growing old,
And cheerless all appears;
While he himself is fading fast,
And Death (deliverer!) comes at last.
V.
A few more lays be sung and o'er,
The hand is cold, the harp unstrung;
The hand that swept shall sweep no more,
The harp that rang no more be rung.
The sun that warm'd the minstrel's heart,
And kindred fervour would impart,
Then gleams upon his sod;
The breeze that used around him wave,
Shakes the lorn thistle o'er his grave,
But cannot wake the clod:
Tir'd Nature nestles in the shroud,
Tho' requiem winds are piping loud.
Is fix'd on firm but cruel might;
It rolls indeed the radiant day,
But sinks it soon in deepest night:
It bids the little flow'ret spring,
But, while it waves its elfin wing,
Its fleeting glories go;
It suffers Hope to dance awhile,
Nursing the fondling's fatal smile,
That tears may faster flow:
And only bids fair beauty bloom,
At last to blast it in the tomb.
II.
Tyrant! he changes every scene,
While he himself remains the same;
Old grow the young, and grey the green,
And cold and cheeriless the flame.
With arrow keen he pierces all,
Nor stays to see the sufferer fall,
But wings his way alone:
Oft too he questions fierce and high,
And while we pause to make reply,
The visitor is flown:
We only mark the change he brings,
And hear the rushing of his wings.
III.
Oh! he has many borne away,
Who seem'd not meant to go so soon,
Who might have hop'd for closing day,
But fell before th' approach of noon.
Scarce had their fame been whisper'd round,
Before its shrill and mournful sound
Was whistling o'er their tomb:
Scarce did the laurel 'gin to grow
Around each early honoured brow,
Before its grateful bloom
Was changed to cypress sear and brown,
Whose garlands mock the head they crown.
IV.
Some linger on forlorn, till life
Becomes a load they long to leave;
The aged finds it folly rife,
That flatters only to deceive.
The tree, beneath whose cooling shade
His youthful limbs were blithely laid,
Sinks with the weight of years:
The friends he lov'd, the tales he told,
The very fields are growing old,
And cheerless all appears;
While he himself is fading fast,
And Death (deliverer!) comes at last.
V.
A few more lays be sung and o'er,
The hand is cold, the harp unstrung;
The hand that swept shall sweep no more,
The harp that rang no more be rung.
The sun that warm'd the minstrel's heart,
And kindred fervour would impart,
Then gleams upon his sod;
The breeze that used around him wave,
Shakes the lorn thistle o'er his grave,
But cannot wake the clod:
Tir'd Nature nestles in the shroud,
Tho' requiem winds are piping loud.