[from Collected Works, T.E.Brown]

IN MEMORIAM
PAUL BRIDSON

TAKE him, O Braddan, for he loved thee well—
Take him, kind mother of my own dear dead!
And let him lay his head
On thy soft breast,
And rest—
Rest.

He loved thee well ; and thee, my father, thee
Also he loved. O, meet him ! reassure
That heart thou prov’dst so pure—
Whisper release!—
And peace—
Peace!

O countrymen, believe me ! here is laid
A Manxman’s heart the simplest and the truest:
O Spring, when thou renewest Thy sunny hours,
Bring flowers—
Flowers!

And bring them of thy sweetest
And bring them of thy meetest
And, till God’s trumpet wake him,
Take him, O Braddan, take him!