Glory to Moore, for he has sighed our sorrow
In such a wail of melody divine,
That even from grief a passing joy we borrow,
And linger long o’er each lamenting
line.
Glory to Moore, that in his songs of gladness
Which neither change nor time can e’er
destroy,
Though mingled oft with some faint sigh of sadness,
He sings his country’s rapture and
its joy.
What wit like his flings out electric flashes
That make the numbers sparkle as they
run:
Wit that revives dull history’s Dead-sea ashes,
And makes the ripe fruit glisten in the
sun?
What fancy full of loveliness and lightness
Has spread like his as at some dazzling
feast,
The fruits and flowers, the beauty and the brightness,
And all the golden glories of the East?
Perpetual blooms his bower of summer roses,
No winter comes to turn his green leaves
sere,
Beside his song-stream where the swan reposes
The bulbul sings as by the Bendemeer.
But back returning from his flight with Peris,
Above his native fields he sings his best,
Like to the lark whose rapture never wearies,
When poised in air he singeth o’er
his nest.
And so we rank him with the great departed,
The kings of song who rule us from their
urns,
The souls inspired, the natures noble hearted,
And place him proudly by the side of Burns.
And as not only by the Calton Mountain,
Is Scotland’s bard remembered and
revered,
But whereso’er, like some o’erflowing
fountain,
Its hardy race a prosperous path has cleared.
There ’mid the roar of newly-rising cities,
His glorious name is heard on every tongue,
There to the music of immortal ditties,
His lays of love, his patriot songs are
sung.
So not alone beside that bay of beauty
That guards the portals of his native
town
Where like two watchful sentinels on duty,
Howth and Killiney from their heights
look down.
But wheresoe’er the exiled race hath drifted,
By what far sea, what mighty stream beside,
There shall to-day the poet’s name be lifted,
And Moore proclaimed its glory and its
pride:
There shall his name be held in fond memento,
There shall his songs resound for evermore,
Whether beside the golden Sacramento,
Or where Niagara’s thunder shakes
the shore.
For all that’s bright indeed must fade and perish,
And all that’s sweet when sweetest
not endure,
Before the world shall cease to love and cherish
The wit and song, the name and fame of
Moore.
Miscellaneous Poems.
THE SPIRIT OF THE SNOW.
The
night brings forth the morn—
Of
the cloud is lightning born;
From out the darkest earth the brightest roses grow.
Bright
sparks from black flints fly,
And
from out a leaden sky
Comes the silvery-footed Spirit of the Snow.