If any vague desire should rise,
⁠That holy Death ere Arthur died
⁠Had moved me kindly from his side,
And dropt the dust on tearless eyes;

Then fancy shapes, as fancy can,
⁠The grief my loss in him had wrought,
⁠A grief as deep as life or thought,
But stay'd in peace with God and man.

I make a picture in the brain;
⁠I hear the sentence that he speaks;
⁠He bears the burthen of the weeks,
But turns his burthen into gain.

His credit thus shall set me free;
⁠And, influence-rich to soothe and save,
⁠Unused example from the grave,
Reach out dead hands to comfort me.