English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
William Collins
294. Fidele
Soft maids and village hinds shall bring
Each opening sweet of earliest bloom,
And rifle all the breathing Spring.
To vex with shrieks this quiet grove;
But shepherds lads assemble here,
And melting virgins own their love.
No goblins lead their nightly crew;
The female fays shall haunt the green,
And dress thy grave with pearly dew.
Shall kindly lend his little aid,
With hoary moss, and gather’d flowers,
To deck the ground where thou art laid.
In tempests shake thy sylvan cell;
Or ’midst the chase, on every plain,
The tender thought on thee shall dwell;
For thee the tear be duly shed;
Beloved, till life can charm no more;
And mourn’d, till Pity’s self be dead.