Poem by Robert Southey

For the Cenotaph at Ermenonville

STRANGER! the man of nature lies not here:
Enshrined far distant by the scoffer’s side
His relics rest, there by the giddy throng
With blind idolatry alike revered.
Wiselier directed hare thy pilgrim feet
Explored the scenes of Ermenonville. Rousseau
Loved these calm haunts of solitude and peace;
Here he has heard the murmurs of the lake,
And the soft rustling of the poplar grove
When o’er its bending boughs the passing wind
Swept a gray shade. Here, if thy breast be full,
If in thine eye the tear devout should gush,
His spirit shall behold thee, to thine home
From hence returning, purified of heart.

1. St. Bartholomew’s Day
2. Stanzas Written in Lady Lonsdale’s Album, at Lowther Castle
3. For a Tablet at Penshurst
4. For a Tablet at Silbury Hill
5. St. Michael’s Chair

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