 | The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman |  |
JOHN HAY
Fall'n like an eagle from his scaur—
From yon clear height none dared to soil!
Beats on that noble heart no more
Above the warfare and the spoil,—
From yon clear height none dared to soil!
Beats on that noble heart no more
Above the warfare and the spoil,—
The poet-statesman's, in whose thought
Self had no place since first he shared
The work his boyhood's chieftain wrought,
The faith which life nor substance spared?
Self had no place since first he shared
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The faith which life nor substance spared?
There are who serve their Country well
Yet stoop to crave her light acclaim,—
His patriot pulses leapt and fell
Nor asked the glory of a name.
Yet stoop to crave her light acclaim,—
His patriot pulses leapt and fell
Nor asked the glory of a name.
Love, honor, rose to him indeed,
As vapors toward the sunlit sky,
But his the generous heart, at need,
Without a pang to put them by.
As vapors toward the sunlit sky,
But his the generous heart, at need,
Without a pang to put them by.
Even so, a white star on his crest,
We knew him in his stainless youth;
Even so—not else than loyalest—
The world his manhood learned in sooth;
We knew him in his stainless youth;
Even so—not else than loyalest—
The world his manhood learned in sooth;
And if there be—and if there be
A realm where lives still forward roll,
Even so—no other—strong and free
Through time and space shine on, dear Soul!
A realm where lives still forward roll,
Even so—no other—strong and free
Through time and space shine on, dear Soul!
July 1, 1905.
| The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman | |