William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
The Common LotJames Montgomery (17711854)
O
There lived a man:—and
Mortal! howe’er thy lot be cast,
That man resembled thee.
The land in which he died unknown:
His name hath perished from the earth;
This truth survives alone:—
Alternate triumph’d in his breast;
His bliss and woe,—a smile, a tear!—
Oblivion hides the rest.
The changing spirits’ rise and fall;
We know that these were felt by him,
For these are felt by all.
Enjoy’d,—but his delights are fled;
Had friends—his friends are now no more;
And foes,—his foes are dead.
Hath lost in its unconscious womb:
O, she was fair!—but nought could save
Her beauty from the tomb.
Encounter’d all that troubles thee:
He was—whatever thou hast been;
He is—what thou shalt be.
Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main,
Erewhile his portion, life, and light,
To him exist in vain.
That once their shades and glory threw,
Have left in yonder silent sky
No vestige where they flew.
Their ruins, since the world began,
O
Than this,