72 HENRY KIHKE WHITE S POEMS. 



INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY 

 OF COWPER. 



Reader ! if with no vulgar sympathy 

 Thou view*st the wreck of genius and of worth, 

 Stay thou thy footsteps near this hallowed spot. 

 Here Cowper rests. Although renown have made 

 His name familiar to thine ear, this stone 

 May tell thee that his virtues were above 

 The common portion : — that the voice, now husii'd 

 In death, was once serenely querulous 

 With pity's tones, and in the ear of woe 

 Spake music. Now forgetful at thy feet 

 His tired head presses on its last long rest, 

 Still tenant of the tomb ; — and on the cheek, 

 Once warm with animation's lambent flush. 

 Sits the pale image of unmark'd decay. 

 Yet mourn not. He had chosen the better part ; 

 And these sad garments of mortality 

 Put off, we trust, that to a happier land 

 He went a light and gladsome passenger. 

 Sigh'st thou for honours, reader ? Call to mind 

 That glory's voice is impotent to pierce 

 The silence of the tomb ! but virtue blooms 

 Even on the wreck of life, and mounts the skies I 

 So gird thy loins with lowliness, and walk 

 I With Cowper on the pilgrimage of Christ. 



DESCRIPTION OF A SUMMER'S EVE. 



Down the sultry arc of day, 

 The burning wheels have urged their way. 

 And Eve along the western skies 

 Sheds her intermingling dyes. 



