| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXIV. Bitter Sorrow
On the death of Joseph Addison | | By Thomas Tickell (1686–1740) |
| | | CAN I forget the dismal night that gave | |
| My soul’s best part for ever to the grave? | |
| How silent did his old companions tread, | |
| By midnight lamps, the mansions of the dead, | |
| Through breathing statues, then unheeded things, | 5 |
| Through rows of warriors, and through walks of kings! | |
| What awe did the slow solemn knell inspire: | |
| The pealing organ, and the pausing choir; | |
| The duties by the lawn-rob’d prelate paid; | |
| And the last words, that dust to dust convey’d! | 10 |
| While speechless o’er thy closing grave we bend, | |
| Accept these tears, thou dear departed friend. | |
| O gone for ever, take this long adieu; | |
| And sleep in peace, next thy lov’d Montague!… | | | | |
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