I’ve seen the thoughtless rustic pass thee by;

In thee, perhaps, his ancestors were bred,

And, at my question, point without a sigh,

Where calmly rest thy unremembered dead;

I asked thy fate, and, as he answered, smiled,

‘Thus looked these ruins since I was a child.’

Methinks, Burnside, I see thee in thy prime,

When thou wert blessed with innocent content,

Thy robust dwellers, prodigal of time,

Yet still with cheerful heart to labor went;