In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again; And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix forever with the elements;
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thy eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone-nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. 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 sepulchre. The hills, Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun; the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods; rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks,
That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,
Are but the solemn decorations all
Of the great tomb of man! The golden sun, The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death, Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom. Take the wings Of morning, and the Barcan desert pierce,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there! And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last sleep-the dead reign there alone! So shalt thou rest; and what if thou shalt fall Unnoticed by the living, and no friend Take note of thy departure? All that breathe Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care Plod on, and each one, as before, will chase His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave Their mirth and their employments, and shall come And make their bed with thee. As the long train Of ages glide away, the sons of men The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The bowed with age, the infant in the smiles And beauty of its innocent age cut off- Shall, one by one, be gathered to thy side, By those who in their turn shall follow them.
So live, that when thy summons comes, to join The innumerable caravan, that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
AT midnight, in his guarded tent,
The Turk was dreaming of the hour When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, Should tremble at his power:
In dreams, through camp and court, he bore The trophies of a conqueror;
In dreams, his song of triumph heard; Then wore his monarch's signet ring; Then pressed that monarch's throne As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing,
As Eden's garden bird.
At midnight, in the forest shades,
Bozzaris ranged his Suliote band, True as the steel of their tried blades, Heroes in heart and hand.
There had the Persian's thousands stood,
There had the glad earth drunk their blood, On old Platea's day;
And now there breathed that haunted air The sons of sires who conquered there,
With arm to strike, and soul to dare, As quick, as far as they.
An hour passed on the Turk awoke: That bright dream was his last;
He woke to hear his sentries shriek,
"To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!
He woke to die 'midst flame and smoke, And shout, and groan, and sabre-stroke, And death-shots falling thick and fast As lightnings from the mountain cloud; And heard, with voice as trumpet loud, Bozzaris cheer his band:
"Strike-till the last armed foe expires; Strike for your altars and your fires;
for the green graves of your sires; God- and your native land!"
They fought like brave men, long and well; They piled that ground with Moslem slain; They conquered—but Bozzaris fell, Bleeding at every vein.
His few surviving comrades saw
His smile, when rang their proud huzza,
And the red field was won;
Then saw in death his eyelids close Calmly as to a night's repose,
Like flowers at set of sun.
Come to the bridal chamber, death! Come to the mother's, when she feels, For the first time, her first-born's breath; Come when the blessed seals That close the pestilence are broke, And crowded cities wait its stroke; Come in consumption's ghastly form; The earthquake shock, the ocean storm; Come when the heart beats high and warm,
With banquet-song, and dance, and wine;
And thou art terrible. The tear,
The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier, And all we know, or dream, or fear
Of agony, are thine.
But to the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free, Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be. Bozzaris! with the storied brave
Greece nurtured in her glory's time, Rest thee there is no prouder grave, Even in her own proud clime.
We tell thy doom without a sigh ;- For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's; One of the few, the immortal names, That were not born to die.
IX. THE SAILOR BOY'S DREAM.
IN slumbers of midnight the sailor-boy lay,
His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind; But, watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away, And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind.
He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers, And pleasures that waited on life's merry morn; While Memory stood sidewise, half covered with flowers, And restored every rose, but secreted its thorn.
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