| Just for a handful of silver he left us, |
| Just
for a riband to stick in his coat – |
| Found the one gift of which fortune bereft
us, |
| Lost
all the others she lets us devote; |
| They, with the gold to give, doled him out
silver, |
| So
much was theirs who so little allowed: |
| How all our copper had gone for his
service! |
| Rags –
were they purple, his heart had been proud! |
| We that had loved him so, followed him,
honoured him, |
| Lived
in his mild and magnificent eye, |
| Learned his great language, caught his
clear accents, |
| Made
him our pattern to live and to die! |
| Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us, |
| Burns,
Shelley, were with us – they watch from their graves! |
| He alone breaks from the van and the
freemen, |
– He
alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!
|
| We shall march prospering – not through his
presence; |
| Songs
may inspirit us, – not from his lyre; |
| Deeds will be done, – while he boasts his
quiescence, |
| Still
bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire: |
| Blot out his name, then, record one lost
soul more, |
| One
task more declined, one more footpath untrod, |
| One more devils’-triumph and sorrow for
angels, |
| One
wrong more to man, one more insult to God! |
| Life’s night begins: let him never come
back to us! |
| There
would be doubt, hesitation and pain, |
| Forced praise on our part – the glimmer of
twilight, |
| Never
glad confident morning again! |
| Best fight on well, for we taught him –
strike gallantly, |
| Menace
our heart ere we master his own; |
| Then let him receive the new knowledge and
wait us, |
Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne!
|
|
Robert
Browning | Classic
Poems |
| |
|
[ A Toccata of Galuppi's ] [ Epilogue to Asolando ] [ Confessions ] [ Home Thoughts from Abroad ] [ Love among the Ruins ] [ Two in the Campagna ] [ Meeting at Night ] [ Love in a Life ] [ Home Thoughts from the Sea ] [ The Lost Leader ] [ My Last Duchess ] |
