 | At Sunset |  |
48
DECORATION DAY
SCHOOL AT WELLESLEY HILLS
Sad festival, thy name recalls
The faces pictured on our walls,
The valiant hearts that many a year
Are wanting to the household cheer.
The faces pictured on our walls,
The valiant hearts that many a year
Are wanting to the household cheer.
A shape went forth on bounding foot,
Returned, a prisoner dread and mute;
The blood that in its veins did leap
Stained the pale marble of its sleep.
Returned, a prisoner dread and mute;
The blood that in its veins did leap
Stained the pale marble of its sleep.
Tears followed on those days of doom,
And garlands for the hero's tomb;
That fount of grief has never dried,
Those garlands never are denied.
And garlands for the hero's tomb;
That fount of grief has never dried,
Those garlands never are denied.
Of years a score have nearly passed
Since our war bugle blew its last.
Where steel met steel for bitter loss,
The threads of reconcilement cross.
Since our war bugle blew its last.
Where steel met steel for bitter loss,
The threads of reconcilement cross.
The brothers who were sundered then
The bond of kindred own again.
And South and North, and East and West,
One life thrills in one nation's breast.
The bond of kindred own again.
And South and North, and East and West,
One life thrills in one nation's breast.
49
Forever blessed be their name,
Forever sacred be their claim
Who fought for that heroic tie,
Who fell for Freedom's family.
Forever sacred be their claim
Who fought for that heroic tie,
Who fell for Freedom's family.
Fair maids who here secluded wait
On Duty throned in Training's state,
This day to you a lesson bears
More weighty than the schoolroom's cares.
On Duty throned in Training's state,
This day to you a lesson bears
More weighty than the schoolroom's cares.
Yours is the motherhood of men,
The priesthood of life's deepened ken.
Oh! may all words of sages rise,
All poets' songs of many skies,
Teach you a wisdom deep and true,
A virtue brave, a music new.
The priesthood of life's deepened ken.
Oh! may all words of sages rise,
All poets' songs of many skies,
Teach you a wisdom deep and true,
A virtue brave, a music new.
To you Columbia fondly looks.
Informed with diagrams and books,
She sees you, steadfast, climb the hill,
Your urns from silvery fountains fill,
Informed with diagrams and books,
She sees you, steadfast, climb the hill,
Your urns from silvery fountains fill,
And, linking soft a silken band,
She lays the clasp within your hand,
And says: “Your task must never cease;
Aid noble men to keep God's peace.”
She lays the clasp within your hand,
And says: “Your task must never cease;
Aid noble men to keep God's peace.”
| At Sunset | |