| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | VI. The Grave’s Triumph
The Grave | | By Robert Blair (1699–1746) |
| | | DULL Grave! thou spoil’st the dance of youthful blood, | |
| Strik’st out the dimple from the cheek of mirth, | |
| And ev’ry smirking feature from the face, | |
| Branding our laughter with the name of madness. | |
| Where are the jesters now? the men of health | 5 |
| Complexionally pleasant? Where the droll, | |
| Whose ev’ry look and gesture was a joke | |
| To clapping theatres and shouting crowds, | |
| And made ev’n thick-lipp’d musing Melancholy | |
| To gather up her face into a smile | 10 |
| Before she was aware? Ah! sullen now, | |
| And dumb as the green turf that covers them. | | | | |
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