Narcissa

Edward Young

Snatched ere thy prime! and in thy bridal hour!
And when kind fortune, with thy lover, smiled!
And when high-flavored thy fresh-opening joys!
And when blind man pronounced thy bliss complete!
And on a foreign shore where strangers wept!
Strangers to thee, and, more surprising still,
Strangers to kindness, wept. Their eyes let fall
Inhuman tears; strange tears! that trickled down
From marble hearts! obdurate tenderness!
A tenderness that called them more severe,
In spite of Nature's soft persuasion steeled:
While Nature melted, Superstition raved;
That mourned the dead, and this denied a grave.
Their sighs incensed; sighs foreign to the will!
Their will the tiger-sucked outraged the storm:
For, O, the cursed ungodliness of Zeal!
While sinful flesh relented, spirit nursed
In blind Infallibility's embrace,
The sahited spirit petrified the breast;
Denied the charily of dust to spread
O'er dust! a charity their dogs enjoy.
What could I do? what succor? what resource?
With pious sacrilege a grave I stole;
With impious piety that grave I wronged;
Short in my duty, coward in my grief!
More like her murderer than friend, I crept
With soft-suspended step, and, muffled deep
In midnight darkness, whispered my last sigh,
I whispered what should echo through their realms,
Nor writ her name, whose tomb should pierce the skies!
Presumptuous fear! how durst I dread her foes,
While Nature's loudest dictates I obeyed?
Pardon necessity, blest shade! of grief
And indignation rival bursts I poured;
Half-execration mingled with my prayer;
Kindled at man, while I his God adored;
Sore grudged the savage land her sacred dust;
Stamped the curst soil; and with humanity
(Denied Narcissa) washed them all a grave.


Main Location:

Montpellier, France