"Shakespear's page, my Lucy, shall unroll / To thy rapt sight the mirror of the soul"
— Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton (1762-1837)
Date
1807
Metaphor
"Shakespear's page, my Lucy, shall unroll / To thy rapt sight the mirror of the soul"
Metaphor in Context
When a few moons (heav'n grant the lot!) have shed
Their ripening lustre o'er thine infant head;
And Shakespear's page, my Lucy, shall unroll
To thy rapt sight the mirror of the soul;
There, 'mid his scenes with thousand colours fraught,
Old Adam shall enchant thy wond'ring thought.
Such was the man, who bad thy mother bear
This small memorial to thy future care:
From youth to age her grateful house he serv'd,
Nor from strict Virtue's path a moment swerv'd.
When life's dark winter, as it 'gan to lower,
Blasted his sight, and bound up every power
For active good, yet many a lengthen'd day
With meek content he smil'd beneath its sway;
And still with kindest thoughts his time beguil'd,
And blest the race, for whom he once had toil'd:
Till ninety years being past in measure even,
He sail'd with conscious triumph up to heaven.
Their ripening lustre o'er thine infant head;
And Shakespear's page, my Lucy, shall unroll
To thy rapt sight the mirror of the soul;
There, 'mid his scenes with thousand colours fraught,
Old Adam shall enchant thy wond'ring thought.
Such was the man, who bad thy mother bear
This small memorial to thy future care:
From youth to age her grateful house he serv'd,
Nor from strict Virtue's path a moment swerv'd.
When life's dark winter, as it 'gan to lower,
Blasted his sight, and bound up every power
For active good, yet many a lengthen'd day
With meek content he smil'd beneath its sway;
And still with kindest thoughts his time beguil'd,
And blest the race, for whom he once had toil'd:
Till ninety years being past in measure even,
He sail'd with conscious triumph up to heaven.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "mirror" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
10/23/2005
