XIX] 



"IN MEMORIAM" 



299 



And ye were duller far than me, 

 Proud gentlemen of Spain, 



To only know him as my First, 

 And never know his name." 



II. 



(Written in 1847.) 



" Know ye my Second, the green and the beautiful. 

 Sitting alone by the sea, 

 Weeping in sadness o'er children undutiful. 

 Woe-worn and pallid is she. 



" For skeleton famine is rapidly striding, 

 Blasting the fruits of the earth, 

 Many a hovel his victims have died in. 

 Cursing the hour of their birth. 



" Ah ! my First from the heavens has darkly descended. 

 Wrapping the earth in its gloom ; 

 The dying lie helpless by corpses extended, 

 Sullenly waiting their doom. 



"And the living watch hopeless the dead and the dying, 

 All gentler feehngs have fled ; 

 They know not — an hour and they may be lying 

 Outstretched, and cold with the dead. 



" To see their blank features so set and despairing. 

 To gaze on those dark, tearless eyes 

 Which look into vacancy listlessly staring, 

 Might humble the great and the wise. 



" Ah ! the great and the wise ! can no way be suggested 

 By the mighty in power and in soul, 

 To banish the curse that too long has rested 

 A shade and a fear on my Whole ? " 



III. 



" There stood by the stake a sable form, 



His grimy arms were bare, 

 A heavy sledge on his shoulder swung 



That had fashioned many a share, 

 And his dark eyes shone like fiery sparks 



From the red-hot iron's glare. 



