Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
The Dying BardSir Walter Scott (17711832)
When mute in the woodlands thine echoes shall die:
No more by sweet Teivi Cadwallon shall rave,
And mix his wild notes with the wild dashing wave.
Unhonored shall flourish, unhonored shall fade;
For soon shall be lifeless the eye and the tongue,
That viewed them with rapture, with rapture that sung.
And chase the proud Saxon from Prestatyn’s side;
But where is the harp shall give life to their name?
And where is the bard shall give heroes their fame?
Who heave the white bosom, and wave the dark hair;
What tuneful enthusiast shall worship their eye,
When half of their charms with Cadwallon shall die?
To join the dim choir of the bards who have been;
With Lewarch, and Meilor, and Merlin the Old,
And sage Taliessin, high harping to hold.
Unconquered thy warriors, and matchless thy maids!
And thou, whose faint warblings my weakness can tell,
Farewell, my loved Harp! my last treasure, farewell!