Classic Poem

My heart is sad, my hope is gone, my light has fled;
I sit and mourn, in silent grief, the lingering day.
Ah! never more he comes, my love; among the dead,
O far, O far, his fleeting shade has flown away!
Far o'er the dark and dismal wave, whence no return,
In deepest night he wanders now, a shape of air:
He hears me not,—hears not the sighs, with love that burn;
I see no more that form, so bright, so young and fair.

O, bright and fair, as shapes that oft from Heaven descend,
And on Parnassus stand before the setting sun!
Bright, when he moved in shining arms, home to defend;
Bright, when, a champion strong, the eager race he run:
O fair, as rose and lily fair, when they entwine,
In asphodelian meads, their wreath of virgin bloom!
His heart was kind as brave; O, he was doubly mine!
But now I only weep beside his early tomb.

Death, with inverted torch, the young and gentle death,
Weeps o'er him now, and mourns the plucked and withered flower:
All bloom must fade;—the south-wind breathes its withering breath,
And the clear-blowing north sweeps on, with blasting power.
I too must soon be gone; in grief I glide away:
The rose has left my cheek; my eye looks dim through tears.
Come, gentle death! here with the youth in silence lay
My form, ere it has felt the icy touch of years.