Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
A MASON'S LAMENT FOR THE DUKE OF SUSSEX . BY BROTHER EDWARD RALEIGH MORAN , OF TEIE GRANT ) MASTKlt'S LODGE . —No . I . " IN the dirge we o ' er himno censure was heard
sung , , Unembitter'd and free did the tear-drop descend ; """ In the presence of death could a censure get word Or could tears , save Regret ' s , be pour'd out for our friend ? AVe blest all his merits , forgetting each fault , Suggested by others , the time-serving crew , AVho diverting his greatness from much that it sought , Kept its bri ght orb , then only eclipsed , from our view .
But this is not the time to express our lament For all that he might have been , rightly advised , Oh , no—no—not now!—be our tears only spent Over worth that we feel had been more highly prized If flatterers—always round Princes—had known , And respected the honest devotion we gave , Springing up like the flowers affection had sown Throughout life , ever his , though reserved for the grave .
Go rest with our prayers , thy best guerdon of fame , Sole solace now left us—high priest of our creed , Future ages of Masons will hallow thy name ; And as reapers are grateful to him that sowed seed , AVhile gathering the harvest—ours be it to bless The hand of that Prince , though in coldness now laid , AVho has left on our science the royal impress Of his spirit—let each Brother thus hail his shade .
If goodness deserved an eternity here , If high-thinking greatness should never leave earth , If heaven had no other permanent sphere For all the most valued , that here has its birth ; If loftiest station with mildness combined Could—oh , that it could!—midst us always reside , If firmness of thought and true greatness of mind Plad a charm against death—Sussex could not have died .
And still in that Lodge—comprehensive above , AVhere hope tells each Mason to seek his true home , Where purged of its earthiness our life of love AVill exist throughout ages of ages to come—Still take over us thy proud place in the East , The spo : s that a moment have dimm'd thy bright ray , Passed off—we will hail thee , there , still our High Priest , Feeling ever more blest , as the spots pass away .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
A MASON'S LAMENT FOR THE DUKE OF SUSSEX . BY BROTHER EDWARD RALEIGH MORAN , OF TEIE GRANT ) MASTKlt'S LODGE . —No . I . " IN the dirge we o ' er himno censure was heard
sung , , Unembitter'd and free did the tear-drop descend ; """ In the presence of death could a censure get word Or could tears , save Regret ' s , be pour'd out for our friend ? AVe blest all his merits , forgetting each fault , Suggested by others , the time-serving crew , AVho diverting his greatness from much that it sought , Kept its bri ght orb , then only eclipsed , from our view .
But this is not the time to express our lament For all that he might have been , rightly advised , Oh , no—no—not now!—be our tears only spent Over worth that we feel had been more highly prized If flatterers—always round Princes—had known , And respected the honest devotion we gave , Springing up like the flowers affection had sown Throughout life , ever his , though reserved for the grave .
Go rest with our prayers , thy best guerdon of fame , Sole solace now left us—high priest of our creed , Future ages of Masons will hallow thy name ; And as reapers are grateful to him that sowed seed , AVhile gathering the harvest—ours be it to bless The hand of that Prince , though in coldness now laid , AVho has left on our science the royal impress Of his spirit—let each Brother thus hail his shade .
If goodness deserved an eternity here , If high-thinking greatness should never leave earth , If heaven had no other permanent sphere For all the most valued , that here has its birth ; If loftiest station with mildness combined Could—oh , that it could!—midst us always reside , If firmness of thought and true greatness of mind Plad a charm against death—Sussex could not have died .
And still in that Lodge—comprehensive above , AVhere hope tells each Mason to seek his true home , Where purged of its earthiness our life of love AVill exist throughout ages of ages to come—Still take over us thy proud place in the East , The spo : s that a moment have dimm'd thy bright ray , Passed off—we will hail thee , there , still our High Priest , Feeling ever more blest , as the spots pass away .