Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 17 1826/The Departure
The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 17, Page 283
THE DEPARTURE.
"Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,
The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sephulchre."Bryant.
And shrink ye from the way
To the spirits' distant shore?
Earth's mightiest men, in arm'd array,
Are thither gone before.
The warrior kings, whose banner
Flew far as eagles fly,
They are gone where swords avail them not,
From the feast of victory.
And the seers, who sat of yore,
By orient palm or wave,
They have pass'd with all their starry lore—
Can ye still fear the grave?—
"We fear, we fear!—the sunshine
Is joyous to behold;
And we reck not of the buried kings,
Or the awful seers of old."—
Ye shrink!—the bards whose lays
Have made your deep hearts burn,
They have left the Sun, and the voice of praise,
For the land whence none return:
And the lovely, whose memorial
Is the verse that cannot die,
They too are gone with their glorious bloom,
From the gaze of human eye.
Would ye not join that throng
Of the earth's departed flowers,
And the masters of the mighty song
In their far and fadeless bowers?
"Those songs are high and holy,
But they vanquish not our fear;
Not from our path those flowers are gone—
We fain would linger here."
Linger then yet awhile,
As the last leaves on the bough!
Ye have loved the gleam of many a smile,
Which is taken from you now.
There have been sweet singing voices
In your walks that now are still;
There are seats left void in your earthly homes,
Which none again may fill.
Soft eyes are seen no more
That made spring-time in your heart;
Kindred and friends are gone before,—
And ye still fear to part?
—"We fear not now! we fear not now!
Though the way through darkness bends,
Our souls are strong to follow them,
Our own familiar friends!"F. H.