Poems (Greenwood)/To Fitz-Greene Halleck
For works with similar titles, see To Fitz-Greene Halleck.
VALENTINES.
WRITTEN FOR MISS L———'s VALENTINE PARTIES.
TO FITZ-GREENE HALLECK.
Must silence rest upon thy lyre, And will thy hand awake it never? And must the great deeps of thy soul Remain becalmed for ever?
O for a midnight storm of song! The peal of arms, the blaze of glory,Like that which once aroused a world,— Thy Grecian hero's story!
O for a generous burst of song! Like that which once new splendor shed Round the "pilgrim shrine" of a poet's grave, And deified the dead!
O for a mirth-born "Fanny," sent, That troubled lives, half unawares, Might take in dancing shapes of joy, And banish spectre cares!
O for a lay, to crown the brave!— Or rosy wreaths of love to twine, To ring joy's bells, or start griefs tear, If only it be thine!
Be hero-bard,—be minstrel gay,— Thy song, if of thy soul a part, Must bear a charmèd life, and live Within thy country's heart.