Written in the Deepdene Album.
Thou record of the votive throng,1
That fondly seek this fairy shrine,2
And pay the tribute of a song3
Where worth and loveliness combine,—4
What boots that I, a vagrant wight5
From clime to clime still wandering on,6
Upon thy friendly page should write7
Who’ll think of me when I am gone ?8
Go plow the wave, and sow the sand ;9
Throw seed to every wind that blows ;10
Along the highway strew thy hand,11
And fatten on the crop that grows.12
For even thus the man that roams13
On heedless hearts his feeling spends ;14
Strange tenant of a thousand homes,15
And friendless, with ten thousand friends !16
Yet here, for once, I’ll leave a trace,17
To ask in aftertimes a thought ;18
To say that here a resting-place19
My wayworn heart has fondly sought.20
So the poor pilgrim heedless strays,21
Unmoved, through many a region fair ;22
But at some shrine his tribute pays,23
To tell that he has worshipped there.24