IN IMMEMORIAM.
(Ascribed to the author of "In Memoriam" but not believed to be his).
We seek to know, and knowing seek;
We seek, we know, and every sense
Is trembling with the great intense,
And vibrating to what we speak.
We ask too much, we seek too oft;
We know enough, and should no more;
And yet we skim through Fancy's lore,
And look to earth and not aloft.
* * * *
O sea! whose ancient ripples lie
On red-ribbed sands where seaweeds shone;
O moon! whose golden sickle's gone,
O voices all! like you I die!
(Dies.)
From Medley, by Cuthbert Bede, 1856.
The 1842 volume of Tennyson's works contained a short poem in four verses entitled