Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/153

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137

The PAUPER's FUNERAL.

What! and not one to heave the pious sigh!Not one whose sorrow-swoln and aching eyeFor social scenes, for life's endearments fled,Shall drop a tear and dwell upon the dead!Poor wretched Outcast! I will weep for thee,And sorrow for forlorn humanity.Yes I will weep, but not that thou art comeTo the stern Sabbath of the silent tomb:For squalid Want, and the black scorpion Care,Heart-withering fiends! shall never enter there.I sorrow for the ills thy life has knownAs thro' the world's long pilgrimage, alone,Haunted by Poverty and woe-begone,Unloved, unfriended, thou didst journey on:Thy youth in ignorance and labour past,And thine old age all barrenness and blast!
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