The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich | ||
VI
Ah, but the life they gaveIs not shut in the grave:
The valorous spirits freed
Live in the vital deed!
Marble shall crumble to dust,
Plinth of bronze and of stone,
Carved escutcheon and crest—
Silently, one by one,
The sculptured lilies fall;
Softly the tooth of the rust
Gnaws through the brazen shield;
Broken, and covered with stains,
The crossed stone swords must yield;
Mined by the frost and the drouth,
Smitten by north and south,
Smitten by east and west,
Down comes column and all!
But the great deed remains.
The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich | ||