One word turned back my gushing tears,

And lit my altered eye with sneers.

Then, ‘Bless the friendly dust’, I said,

‘That hides thy unlamented head!

Vain as thou wert, and weak as vain,

The slave of Falsehood, Pride, and Pain—

My heart has nought akin to thine;

Thy soul is powerless over mine.’

But these were thoughts that vanished too;

Unwise, unholy, and untrue: