Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Robert Southey. 17741843556. His Books
MY days among the Dead are past; | |
Around me I behold, | |
Where’er these casual eyes are cast, | |
The mighty minds of old: | |
My never-failing friends are they, | 5 |
With whom I converse day by day. | |
With them I take delight in weal | |
And seek relief in woe; | |
And while I understand and feel | |
How much to them I owe, | 10 |
My cheeks have often been bedew’d | |
With tears of thoughtful gratitude. | |
My thoughts are with the Dead; with them | |
I live in long-past years, | |
Their virtues love, their faults condemn, | 15 |
Partake their hopes and fears; | |
And from their lessons seek and find | |
Instruction with an humble mind. | |
My hopes are with the Dead; anon | |
My place with them will be, | 20 |
And I with them shall travel on | |
Through all Futurity; | |
Yet leaving here a name, I trust, | |
That will not perish in the dust. |