Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-03-02
JOHN HOWARD PAYNE.
IN NJ EMORIAAt.

IN MEMoRIAI.
Written on hearing that both Holmes ant
hitter had declined writing Il tlibute I,
Is memory.
When In despair | sadly hung
My shatter'd harp upon the wall,
Whose tureful echoes OFT had ruug
Within the gay and festive hall;
! never thought to strike again
Is broken chords with minstrel hand
And wake no sad nor mlrthful strain
or music IN the land,
thought NV dropping muse had fed
Forever from my side;
thought my inspiration dead.
When hope and ardor died
And did no grand alluring theme
Itself unto my mind present,
still upon inactiuns stream,
II idly drifted, well content.
But now my hand cannot but choose
\ trial on the strings to make
The task that nobler bards refuse,
l trem b ingly undertake.
But should my hand Impractical draw
Discordant no'es where sweet SHOULD
rise,
Forgetful of the metric law,
Which the poets labor undorlics,
Deem 1t not fault of bcart, but head,
And count 1t not IL sin;
Nor say wneTe angels fear to tread,
presumptuous fools ush In.
For thirty years in foreign grave,
unhonured had the poet lam,
Where the tall acac,as wave
ON Aries arid plain;
Where the fierce oirocco onward speeds
TO still the deserts yellow sands:
And Arab chieftaIns wheel their steeds
Amid their dusky bands.
How sad to think that he who sung
OfhUme and native cline, =
should like waif be rudely fun.
Upon the shoals uf time,
To die apart from home and friends,
Among c barbarous race;
Where ne'er above his grave there bends
one -yInpathetic face.
But tho 10 priest had blessed the sod
That lay upon his breast,
Within the bosom of his God
The wanderers soul found rest;
While dying on q distant strand,
Like Bingen's soldier lad,
Fond memories Of his native land
Perchance his soul made sad;
Perchancs he thought twas hard 10 die
uncheer.d By friendly face,
And far away from home to lie,
An allen 10 his race;
or Tho for weary years we roam,
Still recollection brings
Remembrance of the cherished home
Round which affection clings;
We long to Tread the much lov'd shore,
And look egain with raptur'u eye
Upon our childhood's scenes once more,
Beneath our natal sky:
Or II our Maker should deny
This blessed boon unto our pray ers,
And fate decree that we should die,
Meath unfamiliar stars.
Tho p!ous hope doth still remain,
That some good christian soul
VIII take our mortal part again
Where ngtlvo sireamlets roll:
such thoughts as these at least did fill
One kindly human mind:
whose noble soul, devoid OF Ill,
Loved all OF mortal kind;
He greved TO think he poets hcart
should mouder In an alien grave,
Far distant from his home apart,
hey ond the ocean-wave;
lie shamed TO think that lofty brow,
On whl"h the light of genius shone,
Should lie all cold and pallid now,
Forgotten and alone:
That he whose song had often checI'd
The wanderers of the Ianu and SEA;
And high their hearts with IN, morles
stirr'd,
Or home and liberty;
Should wake no grateful nations care,
Nor claim single tear,
But slumber In n foreign air,
Upon his humble bier.
such memories crowding thick and fast
on his generous heart,
Urged on his ready will AT last
10 undertake the part
The part nation should have done,
And gladly done, across the main.
10 tring unto his native sun,
The buried poet once again.
Now thanks unto his pious care,
His dust, with honors strown,
Lies meath n tablet rich and rare
ofmonumental stone.
All hail TO him. that kindly one,
That good aud generous man;
Columbias noble-hearted son,
Immortal Corcoran,
High placed upon the honored list.
Ofgrea, ones In the land;
The poet and philanthropist,
coDIoln'ed shall ever stand
5. NJ. DRAKE.
-
he world is waiting to hear from
!, Mr, Jones.
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