Representative gets time to pen largely mournful poem (8)
I believe the answer is:
delegate
'representative' is the definition.
(delegate is a kind of representative)
'time to pen largely mournful poem' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 'date' (date is a kind of time**).
'to pen' indicates putting letters inside.
'largely' means to remove the last letter.
'mournful poem' becomes 'elegy' (I've seen this before).
'elegy' with its final letter taken off is 'eleg'.
'date' going around 'eleg' is 'DELEGATE'.
'gets' is the link.
(Other definitions for delegate that I've seen before include "Give authority" , "Conference representative" , "Groups representative" , "Appoint or send as a representative" , "One sent to represent others" .)