TALFOURD'S "VERSES IN MEMORY OF A CHILD NAMED AFTER CHARLES LAMB"
FROM THE FINAL MEMORIALS OF CHARLES LAMB
(See Letter 469, page 846)
Our gentle Charles has pass'd away
From Earth's short bondage free,
And left to us its leaden day
And mist-enshrouded sea.
Here, by the restless ocean's side,
Sweet hours of hope have flown,
When first the triumph of its tide
Seem'd omen of our own.
That eager joy the sea-breeze gave,
When first it raised his hair,
Sunk with each day's retiring wave,
Beyond the reach of prayer.
The sun-blink that through drizzling mist,
To flickering hope akin,
Lone waves with feeble fondness kiss'd,
No smile as faint can win;
Yet not in vain, with radiance weak,
The heavenly stranger gleams—
Not of the world it lights to speak,
But that from whence it streams.
That world our patient sufferer sought,
Serene with pitying eyes,
As if his mounting Spirit caught
The wisdom of the skies.
With boundless love it look'd abroad
For one bright moment given;
Shone with a loveliness that aw'd,
And quiver'd into Heaven.
A year made slow by care and toil
Has paced its weary round,
Since Death enrich'd with kindred spoil
The snow-clad, frost-ribb'd ground.
Then LAMB, with whose endearing name
Our boy we proudly graced,
Shrank from the warmth of sweeter fame
Than mightier Bards embraced.
Still 'twas a mournful joy to think
Our darling might supply
For years to us, a living link,
To name that cannot die.
And though such fancy gleam no more
On earthly sorrow's night,
Truth's nobler torch unveils the shore
Which lends to both its light.
The nurseling there that hand may take,
None ever grasp'd in vain,
And smiles of well-known sweetness wake,
Without their tinge of pain.
Though,'twixt the Child and child-like Bard,
Late seemed distinction wide.
They now may trace in Heaven's regard,
How near they were allied.
Within the infant's ample brow
Blythe fancies lay unfurl'd,
Which, all uncrush'd, may open now,
To charm a sinless world.
Though the soft spirit of those eyes
Might ne'er with LAMB'S compete—
Ne'er sparkle with a wit as wise,
Or melt in tears, as sweet;
That calm and unforgotten look
A kindred love reveals,
With his who never friend forsook,
Or hurt a thing that feels.
In thought profound, in wildest glee,
In sorrows dark and strange,
The soul of Lamb's bright infancy
Endured no spot or change.
From traits of each our love receives
For comfort, nobler scope;
While light, which child-like genius leaves.
Confirms the infant's hope;
And in that hope with sweetness fraught
Be aching hearts beguiled,
To blend in one delightful thought
The POET and the CHILD!