Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1829.pdf/24

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[ are indebted for the following pathetic little poem to the circumstance of the first grave being formed in the churchyard of the new church at Brompton: the place was recently a garden, and some of the flowers yet show themselves among the graves, where this one tenant, the forerunner of its population, has taken up his last abode.]

grave!—the only one In this unbroken ground, Where yet the garden leaf and flower Are lingering around.

A single grave!—my heart has felt How utterly alone In crowded halls, where breathed for me    Not one familiar tone;

The shade where forest-trees shut out All but the distant sky;— I've felt the loneliness of night When the dark winds past by;

My pulse has quickened with its awe, My lip has gasped for breath; But what were they to such as this— The solitude of death!

A single grave!—we half forget How sunder human ties, When round the silent place of rest A gathered kindred lies.

We stand beneath the haunted yew, And watch each quiet tomb; And in the ancient churchyard feel Solemnity, not gloom: