On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Birthday

‘Tis time the heart should be unmoved,
    Since others it hath ceased to move:
Yet, though I cannot be beloved,
            Still let me love!

My days are in the yellow leaf;
    The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
            Are mine alone!

The fire that on my bosom preys
    Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze–
            A funeral pile.

The hope, the fear, the jealous care,
    The exalted portion of the pain
And power of love, I cannot share,
            But wear the chain.

But ’tis not thus–and ’tis not here—
    Such thoughts should shake my soul nor now,
Where glory decks the hero’s bier,
            Or binds his brow.

The sword, the banner, and the field,
    Glory and Greece, around me see!
he Spartan, borne upon his shield,
            Was not more free.

Awake! (not Greece–she is awake!)
    Awake, my spirit! Think through whom
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
            And then strike home!

Tread those reviving passions down,
    Unworthy manhood!–unto thee
Indifferent should the smile or frown
            Of beauty be.

If thou regrett’st thy youth, why live?
      The land of honourable death
Is here:–up to the field, and give
            Away thy breath!

Seek out–less often sought than found–
    A soldier’s grave, for thee the best;
Then look around, and choose thy ground,
            And take thy rest.

1824