Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.

VI. The Grave’s Triumph. The Grave

Robert Blair (1699–1746)

DULL Grave! thou spoil’st the dance of youthful blood,

Strik’st out the dimple from the cheek of mirth,

And ev’ry smirking feature from the face,

Branding our laughter with the name of madness.

Where are the jesters now? the men of health

Complexionally pleasant? Where the droll,

Whose ev’ry look and gesture was a joke

To clapping theatres and shouting crowds,

And made ev’n thick-lipp’d musing Melancholy

To gather up her face into a smile

Before she was aware? Ah! sullen now,

And dumb as the green turf that covers them.