A Tombless Epitaph Analysis

'Tis true, Idoloclastes Satyrane !

(So call him, for so mingling blame with praise,

And smiles with anxious looks, his earliest friends,

Masking his birth-name, wont to character

His wild-wood fancy and impetuous zeal,)

'Tis true that, passionate for ancient truths,

And honouring with religious love the Great

Of elder times, he hated to excess,

With an unquiet and intolerant scorn,

The hollow Puppets of an hollow Age,

Ever idolatrous, and changing ever

Its worthless Idols ! Learning, Power, and Time,

(Too much of all) thus wasting in vain war

Of fervid colloquy. Sickness, 'tis true,

Whole years of weary days, besieged him close,

Even to the gates and inlets of his life !

But it is true, no less, that strenuous, firm,

And with a natural gladness, he maintained

The citadel unconquered, and in joy

Was strong to follow the delightful Muse.

For not a hidden path, that to the shades

Of the beloved Parnassian forest leads,

Lurked undiscovered by him ; not a rill

There issues from the fount of Hippocrene,

But he had traced it upward to its source,

Through open glade, dark glen, and secret dell,

Knew the gay wild flowers on its banks, and culled

Its med'cinable herbs. Yea, oft alone,

Piercing the long-neglected holy cave,

The haunt obscure of old Philosophy,

He bade with lifted torch its starry walls

Sparkle, as erst they sparkled to the flame

Of odorous lamps tended by Saint and Sage.

O framed for calmer times and nobler hearts !

O studious Poet, eloquent for truth !

Philosopher ! contemning wealth and death,

Yet docile, childlike, full of Life and Love !

Here, rather than on monumental stone,

This record of thy worth thy Friend inscribes,

Thoughtful, with quiet tears upon his cheek.

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