Blair Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
There no lustrous orb glows,
And no lids ope or close ;
There 's no sight the known pathway to trace ;
But the gross worms instead
Have for long made their bed,
And dug holes in the eyes' wonted place.
Aye, such looks will not show,
What thou wast long ago ;
Whether King's skull or Duke's I now hold :
Alexander the Great
Thus owns no more state
Than his slave on the dunghill cold.
Come thou grave-digger near, —
Come and tell in my ear
Whose it is I have got in my hand ;
Till I question the head
Of the life it once led,
Though little 'twill heed my demand.
Wert thou once some young maid
In beauty arrayed,
And virtuous and pure in thy ways, —
With thy charms fairly set,
To ensnare like a net,
The hearts of the young with their grace ?
And now those bright charms,
That woke love's sweet alarms,
Are thus loathsome to every one.
Out, out on the grave,
That spoiled thee so bare
Of that beauty such triumphs that won.