 | At Sunset |  |
23
VERSES READ AT THE COOPERSTOWN CENTENNIAL
What village of the western wild
Lifts its far challenge of romance
From forests by the axe unspoiled,
From where the skin-clad sachems dance?
Lifts its far challenge of romance
From forests by the axe unspoiled,
From where the skin-clad sachems dance?
Whose was the note? A bard of old
Held nature subject to his song,
Whose ringing strophes, clear and bold,
The echoes of the world prolong.
Held nature subject to his song,
Whose ringing strophes, clear and bold,
The echoes of the world prolong.
So, kindled with poetic fire,
Aspiring from the virgin sod
Came he who, to our heart's desire,
The measure of the Muses trod.
Aspiring from the virgin sod
Came he who, to our heart's desire,
The measure of the Muses trod.
What voice like his the legend taught,
The story of our pilgrim days?
The march with deadly danger fraught,
The heroes ignorant of praise:
The story of our pilgrim days?
The march with deadly danger fraught,
The heroes ignorant of praise:
The hunter bold, the savage dark,
The breath of regions unprofaned,
The rover with his phantom bark,
The valiant spirits, rudely trained?
The breath of regions unprofaned,
24
The valiant spirits, rudely trained?
Be dear to us this sylvan ground
That holds his ashes in its breast,
While songs of love and praise resound
Above the beauty of his rest.
That holds his ashes in its breast,
While songs of love and praise resound
Above the beauty of his rest.
August, 1907.
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