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ODE ON THE DEATH OF MR. JAMES THOMSON.

1 IN yonder
c The scene of the following stanzas is supposed to lie on the Thames near Richmond.
grove a Druid lies
2 Where slowly winds the stealing wave!
3 The year's best sweets shall duteous rise
4 To deck its Poet's sylvan grave!
5 In yon deep bed of whispering reeds
6 His airy harp
d The harp of Aeolus, of which see a description in the Castle of Indolence.
shall now be laid,
7 That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds,
8 May love thro' life the soothing shade.
9 Then maids and youths shall linger here,
10 And while its sounds at distance swell,
11 Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear
12 To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.
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13 Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore
14 When Thames in summer wreaths is drest,
15 And oft suspend the dashing oar
16 To bid his gentle spirit rest!
17 And oft as Ease and Health retire
18 To breezy lawn, or forest deep,
19 The friend shall view yon whitening
e Richmond church.
spire,
20 And mid the varied landscape weep.
21 But thou, who own'st that earthy bed,
22 Ah! what will every dirge avail?
23 Or tears, which Love and Pity shed,
24 That mourn beneath the gliding sail!
25 Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye
26 Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near!
27 With him, sweet Bard, may Fancy die,
28 And Joy desert the blooming year.
29 But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide
30 No sedge-crown'd Sisters now attend,
31 Now waft me from the green-hill's side
32 Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!
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33 And see, the fairy valleys fade,
34 Dun Night has veil'd the solemn view!
35 Yet once again, dear parted shade,
36 Meek Nature's child, again adieu!
37 The genial meads assign'd to bless
38 Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom,
39 Their hinds, and shepherd-girls shall dress
40 With simple hands thy rural tomb.
41 Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay
42 Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes;
43 O! vales, and wild woods, shall he say,
44 In yonder grave your Druid lies!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): ODE ON THE DEATH OF MR. JAMES THOMSON.
Themes: poetry; literature; writing; death
Genres: ode
References: DMI 32266

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. II. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 15-17. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1135; OTA K093079.002) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)

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