| |
| “O DAY! he cannot die | |
| When thou so fair art shining! | |
| O Sun, in such a glorious sky | |
| So tranquilly declining; | |
| |
| “He cannot leave thee now, | 5 |
| While fresh west winds are blowing, | |
| And all around his youthful brow | |
| Thy cheerful light is glowing! | |
| |
| “Edward, awake! awake— | |
| The golden evening gleams | 10 |
| Warm and bright on Arden’s lake— | |
| Arouse thee from thy dreams! | |
| |
| “Beside thee, on my knee, | |
| My dearest friend, I pray | |
| That thou, to cross the eternal sea, | 15 |
| Wouldst yet one hour delay: | |
| |
| “I hear its billows roar— | |
| I see them foaming high; | |
| But no glimpse of a further shore | |
| Has blest my straining eye. | 20 |
| |
| “Believe not what they urge | |
| Of Eden isles beyond; | |
| Turn back, from that tempestuous surge, | |
| To thy own native land. | |
| |
| “It is not death, but pain | 25 |
| That struggles in thy breast— | |
| Nay, rally, Edward, rouse again; | |
| I cannot let thee rest!” | |
| |
| One long look, that sore reproved me | |
| For the woe I could not bear— | 30 |
| One mute look of suffering moved me | |
| To repent my useless prayer: | |
| |
| And, with sudden check, the heaving | |
| Of distraction passed away; | |
| Not a sign of further grieving | 35 |
| Stirred my soul that awful day. | |
| |
| Paled, at length, the sweet sun setting; | |
| Sunk to peace the twilight breeze: | |
| Summer dews fell softly, wetting | |
| Glen, and glade, and silent trees. | 40 |
| |
| Then his eyes began to weary, | |
| Weighed beneath a mortal sleep; | |
| And their orbs grew strangely dreary, | |
| Clouded, even as they would weep. | |
| |
| But they wept not, but they changed not, | 45 |
| Never moved, and never closed; | |
| Troubled still, and still they ranged not— | |
| Wandered not, nor yet reposed! | |
| |
| So I knew that he was dying— | |
| Stooped, and raised his languid head; | 50 |
| Felt no breath, and heard no sighing, | |
| So I knew that he was dead. | |
| |
