Poems

by Fanny Kemble

A WISH.

Let me not die for ever when I’m laid
In the cold earth! but let my memory
Live still among ye, like the evening shade,
That o’er the sinking day steals placidly.
Let me not be forgotten! though the knell
Has tolled for me its solemn lullaby;
Let me not be forgotten! though I dwell
For ever now in death’s obscurity.
Yet oh! upon the emblazoned leaf of fame,
Trace not a record, not a line for me,
But let the lips I loved oft breathe my name,
And in your hearts enshrine my memory!

A SPIRIT’S VOICE.

It is the dawn! the rosy day awakes;
From her bright hair pale showers of dew she shakes,
And through the heavens her early pathway takes;
Why art thou sleeping?

It is the noon! the sun looks laughing down
On hamlet still, on busy shore, and town,
On forest glade, and deep dark waters lone;
Why art thou sleeping?

It is the sunset! daylight’s crimson veil
Floats o’er the mountain tops, while twilight pale
Calls up her vaporous shrouds from every vale;
Why art thou sleeping?

It is the night! o’er the moon’s livid brow,
Like shadowy locks, the clouds their darkness throw,
All evil spirits wake to wander now;
Why art thou sleeping?

TO THE DEAD.

On the lone waters’ shore
Wander I yet;
Brooding those moments o’er
I should forget.
’Till the broad foaming surge
Warns me to fly,
While despair’s whispers urge
To stay and die.
When the night’s solemn watch
Falls on the seas,
’Tis thy voice that I catch
In the low breeze;
When the moon sheds her light
On things below,
Beams not her ray so bright,
Like thy young brow?
Spirit immortal! say,
When wilt thou come,
To marshal me the way
To my long home?

SONG.

I sing the yellow leaf,
That rustling strews
The wintry path, where grief
Delights to muse,
Spring’s early violet, that sweetly opes
Its fragrant leaves to the young morning’s kiss,
Type of our youth’s fond dreams, and cherished hopes,
Will soon be this:
A sere and yellow leaf,
That rustling strews
The wintry path, where grief
Delights to muse.
The summer’s rose, in whose rich hues we read
Pleasure’s gay bloom, and love’s enchanting bliss,
And glory’s laurel, waving o’er the dead,
Will soon be this:
A sere and yellow leaf,
That rustling strews
The wintry path, where grief
Delights to muse.

TO THOMAS MOORE, Esq.

Here’s a health to thee, Bard of Erin!
To the goblet’s brim we will fill;
For all that to life is endearing,
Thy strains have made dearer still!

Wherever fond woman’s eyes eclipse
The midnight moon’s soft ray;
Whenever around dear woman’s lips,
The smiles of affection play:

We will drink to thee, Bard of Erin!
To the goblet’s brim we will fill,
For all that to life is endearing,
Thy strains have made dearer still!

Wherever the warrior’s sword is bound
With the laurel of victory,
Wherever the patriot’s brow is crowned
With the halo of liberty:

We will drink to thee, Bard of Erin!
To the goblet’s brim we will fill;
For all that to life is endearing
Thy strains have made dearer still!

Wherever the voice of mirth hath rung,
On the listening ear of night,
Wherever the soul of wit hath flung
Its flashes of vivid light:

We will drink to thee, Bard of Erin!
To the goblet’s brim we will fill;
For all that to life is endearing,
In thy strains is dearer still.

A WISH.

Oh! that I were a fairy sprite, to wander
In forest paths, o’erarched with oak and beech;
Where the sun’s yellow light, in slanting rays,
Sleeps on the dewy moss: what time the breath
Of early morn stirs the white hawthorn boughs,
And fills the air with showers of snowy blossoms.
Or lie at sunset ’mid the purple heather,
Listening the silver music that rings out
From the pale mountain bells, swayed by the wind.
Or sit in rocky clefts above the sea,
While one by one the evening stars shine forth
Among the gathering clouds, that strew the heavens
Like floating purple wreaths of mournful nightshade!

THE MINSTREL’S GRAVE.

Oh let it be where the waters are meeting,
In one crystal sheet, like the summer’s sky bright!
Oh let it be where the sun, when retreating,
May throw the last glance of his vanishing light.
Lay me there! lay me there! and upon my lone pillow
Let the emerald moss in soft starry wreaths swell;
Be my dirge the faint sob of the murmuring billow,
And the burthen it sings to me, nought but “farewell!”

Oh let it be where soft slumber enticing,
The cypress and myrtle have mingled their shade:
Oh let it be where the moon at her rising,
May throw the first night-glance that silvers the glade.

Lay me there! lay me there! and upon the green willow
Hang the harp that has cheered the lone minstrel so well,
That the soft breath of heaven, as it sighs o’er my pillow,
From its strings, now forsaken, may sound one farewell.