In Memoriam
The late Sir Robert Pipon Marett, Knight, Bailiff of the Island of Jersey
Born November 20th, 1820. Died November 10th, 1884.
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As live the truly great and just and good, So he, now number'd with the dead, Whose rigid limbs and marbled head Lie motionless and cold and stark, Lived, till the subtle quick'ning spark Of mortal life, that nurtur'd vital blood, Forsook the casement of his soul, That soul to free for th' heavenly goal, Which, quicker than a sun-ray light, It reached, as sank his frame in night - Ere long to be the eager earth worm's food: But, whilst that body will decay, His soul, link'd to eternal day, Shall watch that gentle wife and kind Who, with four children, left behind Deep drinks of sick'ning draughts from Grief's gall'd flood. But silent list! a murm'ring stifled sound Perturbs the air; - what may it mean That solemn haunts this gloomy scene?... It is the wail of heart-well'd woe That, heaving, surges to and fro As, husk'ly groaned by myriad mourners round, 'Tis borne upon the shifting breeze And echoed by the moaning trees... It is the voice of Jersey's heart That anguish'd thrills, so forc'd to part With one, whose genial soul by honour bound; Whose acts, by honour aye were bent; Whose self was honour's monument; Whose heav'n-lit eye reveal'd a mind That away'd 'twixt God and human kind - Him, honest men revered; - him, God has crowned.
Philip John Le Geyt |
Robert Pipon Marett was also well-known as a poet under the nom-d'plieunme of Laelius.