STANZAS.

Harm not the living—on the stage of life

Play well your parts, that when the bell shall toll

To note your exit, ye shall hear the strife

Of echoing plaudits, and the deafening roll

Of music round you. O! across the soul

Will come the freshness of its dewy Spring;

And ye shall leap toward the destined goal,

And snatch the victor’s garland; while there ring,

Through the arena, shouts of kindly welcoming!

So live, that when upon the voiceless air

Shall come the echoes of your passing bell,

From the lone minster, they to you shall bear

Sweet thoughts and pleasant memories—the dell

Where grew the violets, shall, like a spell,

Rise up before your spirit, and the rill

That wantoned with them, laughing, ere it fell

For very joy adown the craggy hill —

And so your dream shall end—awake in Heaven ye will.