Ah! tale that tells the life of all

To lovelier truth by fancy wrought,

And songs that e'en to us recall

The bliss a poet's vision caught!

All these are ours, yes, all—but he.

And who that lives can find a strain

Of worth like his the soul to free

From bonds of sublunary pain?

A strain like his we vainly seek

To sound above the singer's grave,