Itself, e'en here on earth, transfigured grown.
What his own age reproved, and deem'd a crime,
Hath been ennobled now by death and time.
And many a soul that with him strove in fight,
And his great merit grudged to recognise,
Now feels the impress of his wondrous might,
And in his magic fetters gladly lies;
E'en to the highest bath he winged his flight,
In close communion link'd with all we prize.
Extol him then! What mortals while they live
But half receive, posterity shall give.
Thus is he left us, who so long ago,—
Ten years, alas, already!—turn'd from earth;
We all, to our great joy, his precepts know,
Oh may the world confess their priceless worth!
In swelling tide tow'rd every region flow
The thoughts that were his own peculiar birth;
He gleams like some departing meteor bright,
Combining, with his own, eternal light.
——-
L'ENVOl.