Ultima Thule/Bayard Taylor

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For works with similar titles, see Bayard Taylor.

POEMS.

BAYARD TAYLOR.

Dead he lay among his books!The peace of God was in his looks.

As the statues in the gloomWatch o'er Maximilian's tomb,^[1]

So those volumes from their shelvesWatched him, silent as themselves.

Ah! his hand will nevermoreTurn their storied pages o'er;

Nevermore his lips repeatSongs of theirs, however sweet.

Let the lifeless body rest!He is gone, who was its guest;

Gone, as travellers haste to leaveAn inn, nor tarry until eve.

Traveller! in what realms afar,In what planet, in what star,

In what vast, aerial space,Shines the light upon thy face?

In what gardens of delightRest thy weary feet to-night?

Poet! thou, whose latest verseWas a garland on thy hearse;

Thou hast sung, with organ tone,In Deukalion's life, thine own;

On the ruins of the PastBlooms the perfect flower at last.

Friend! but yesterday the bellsRang for thee their loud farewells;

And to-day they toll for thee,Lying dead beyond the sea;

Lying dead among thy books,The peace of God in all thy looks!

1. In the Hofkirche at Innsbruck.