| |
| DEAD he lay among his books! | |
| The peace of God was in his looks. | |
| |
| As the statues in the gloom | |
| Watch o’er Maximilian’s tomb, | |
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| So those volumes from their shelves | 5 |
| Watched him, silent as themselves. | |
| |
| Ah! his hand will nevermore | |
| Turn their storied pages o’er; | |
| |
| Nevermore his lips repeat | |
| Songs of theirs, however sweet. | 10 |
| |
| Let the lifeless body rest! | |
| He is gone, who was its guest; | |
| |
| Gone, as travellers haste to leave | |
| An inn, nor tarry until eve. | |
| |
| Traveller! in what realms afar, | 15 |
| In what planet, in what star, | |
| |
| In what vast, aerial space, | |
| Shines the light upon thy face? | |
| |
| In what gardens of delight | |
| Rest thy weary feet to-night? | 20 |
| |
| Poet! thou, whose latest verse | |
| Was a garland on thy hearse; | |
| |
| Thou hast sung, with organ tone, | |
| In Deukalion’s life, thine own; | |
| |
| On the ruins of the Past | 25 |
| Blooms the perfect flower at last. | |
| |
| Friend! but yesterday the bells | |
| Rang for thee their loud farewells; | |
| |
| And to-day they toll for thee, | |
| Lying dead beyond the sea; | 30 |
| |
| Lying dead among thy books, | |
| The peace of God in all thy looks! | |
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