THE DEATH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
"The unfriendly elements
Forget thee utterly—
Where, for a monument upon thy bones,
And e'er-remaining lamps, the belching whale
And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse;
Lying with simple shells." —Pericles.
Forget thee utterly—
Where, for a monument upon thy bones,
And e'er-remaining lamps, the belching whale
And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse;
Lying with simple shells." —Pericles.
I
As one who having dreamed all night of death
Puts out a hand to feel the sleeping face
Next his, and wonders that the lips have breath—
So we, for years not touching on their trace,
Marvelled at news of those we counted dead,
"For now the strong snows in some iron place
Have covered them; their end shall not be said
Till all the hidden parts of time be plain
And all the writing of all years be read."
So men spake sadly; and their speech was vain,
For here the end stands clear, and men at ease
May gather the sharp fruit of that past pain
Out in some barren creek of the cold seas,
Where the slow shapes of the grey water-weed
Freeze midway as the languid inlets freeze.
As one who having dreamed all night of death
Puts out a hand to feel the sleeping face
Next his, and wonders that the lips have breath—
So we, for years not touching on their trace,
Marvelled at news of those we counted dead,
"For now the strong snows in some iron place
Have covered them; their end shall not be said
Till all the hidden parts of time be plain
And all the writing of all years be read."
So men spake sadly; and their speech was vain,
For here the end stands clear, and men at ease
May gather the sharp fruit of that past pain
Out in some barren creek of the cold seas,
Where the slow shapes of the grey water-weed
Freeze midway as the languid inlets freeze.
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