James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
September 17In Memory of Walter Savage Landor
By Algernon Charles Swinburne (18371909)
B
The bright months bring,
New-born, the bridegroom and the bride,
Freedom and spring.
Filled full of sun;
All things come back to her, being free;
All things but one.
Flowers that were dead
Live, and old suns revive; but not
That holier head.
Far north I hear
One face shall never turn to me
As once this year:
On mine as there,
Nor one most sacred hand be prest
Upon my hair.
Half run before;
The youngest to the oldest singer
That England bore.
Till all grief end,
In holiest age our mightiest mind,
Father and friend.
If hope there be,
O spirit that man’s life left pure,
Man’s death set free,
Look earthward now;
Let dreams revive the reverend hair,
The imperial brow;
Where thou art not
We find none like thee. Time and strife
And the world’s lot
And reverent heart
May move thee, royal and releast,
Soul, as thou art.
Receive and keep,
Keep safe his dedicated dust,
His sacred sleep.
Mix with thy name
As morning-star with evening-star
His faultless fame.