My Welsh home and other poems Author:John Morgan Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: TO SIR THOMAS PHILLIPS, LLANELLEN, MONMOUTHSHIRE. Strife show'd thee great, and fix'd the pedestal Whereon, for age, shall shine thy lofty name. When, i... more »n dark days, at frantic faction's call, Riot uprose, and banded treason came And storm'd the town, with swords and pikes in hand, And servile fear the boldest of us held, Thy front serene, and temper'd courage, quell'd The ignoble crew, and saved the loyal land: But purer fame awaits thy memory; For, thine the nobler task to combat long The brood of crime, and ignorance, and wrong: Nor wilt thou yield till these, too, routed be By the collective force, divinely strong, Of virtue, faith, and human sympathy. Jahuahy, 1861. M. S. FILIOLI DILECTISSIMI MEI R. B. M. VIXIT ANNUM I. OBIIT XIX MAII . ANNO SAUJTIS MDCCCLXVI. The deep may be one smooth expanse, And so serene the constant breeze, That those most conversant with seas Cannot prognosticate mischance. How fair the scene! the sailor thinks, When, in a moment, comes a shock ; The ship has struck a sunken rock, And, foundering in the calm, she sinks. Thus late I lived, as if asleep, Or spell-bound, on a smiling stream; But, roused from my delusive dream, I wake at once, and wake to weep, The Spoiler broke into my nest, And gave my trust a deadly throw; And clave in twain, at one quick blow, My household peace and bleeding breast. What time our lawn began to ring With diverse notes of sweetest sound, And every day reveal'd around The wealth and pomp of early spring, Came our delight, our meek-eyed boy; With whom we could not but combine All nature's glow, as if the sign And overflow of our own joy. But soon our sweet was smitten sore; Before it could display its bloom It met an unsuspected ...« less