Читать книгу The Lyon in Mourning, Vol. 1 - Forbes Robert - Страница 19

Short is the term of life, my honour'd friend.

Soon o'er the puny space with rapid speed

The unreturning moments wing their way,

And sweep us from our cradles to the grave.

And yet this puny space is fill'd with toil

And labours in the transitory scene,

To make life wretched, as 'tis frail and fleeting.

Rattles and toys employ and please our childhood.

Wealth, pomp, and pleasure, full as arrant trifles,

Commence the idols of our riper years,

And fill the mind with images as wild;

Absurd, fantastic, as a sick man's dreams,

Disquieting this span of life in vain.

He truly lives and makes the most of life

Who well hath studied its intrinsic worth,

And learnt to lay it down with resignation;

Can like thee, Balmerino! lay it down,

And deem it not his own, when honour claims it.

See the unconquer'd captive (matchless man!),

Collected in his own integrity;

Facing with such a brow the king of terrors,

And treading on the utmost verge of life,

Serene as on a summer's ev'ning walk;

Draws more amazing eyes upon his scaffold [fol. 114.]

Than ever gaz'd on laurell'd heroes car;

Triumphant in his fall o'er all that crusht him.

Amazement seiz'd the crowded theatre,

Struck with the awful scene; and throb'd a heart

In ev'ry breast but his. The headsman trembl'd

That rais'd the fatal axe. Nor trembl'd he

On whom 'twas falling. Falls the fell edge;

Nor shrinks the mangl'd victim! What are stars and garters?

All titles, dignities, all crowns and sceptres,

Compar'd with such an exit? When these perish

Their owners be as they had never been,

In deep oblivion sunk. This greater name,

As long as any sense of virtue lasts,

Shall live and fragrant smell to after times,

Exhibiting a pattern how to die,

And far the fairest former times have seen.