To the Memory of Sydney Dobell

By John Stuart Blackie (1809–1895)

An English poet who died on August 22, 1874.

AND thou, too, gone! one more bright soul away

To swell the mighty sleepers ’neath the sod;

One less to honor and to love, and say,

Who lives with thee doth live half-way to God!

My chaste-souled Sydney! thou wast carved too fine

For coarse observance of the general eye;

But who might look into thy soul’s fair shrine

Saw bright gods there, and felt their presence nigh.

Oh! if we owe warm thanks to Heaven, ’tis when

In the slow progress of the struggling years

Our touch is blessed to feel the pulse of men

Who walk in light and love above their peers

White-robed, and forward point with guiding hand,

Breathing a heaven around them where they stand!