The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery Collected and Revised by the Author |
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MORAL CONTRAST. |
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 | The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery |  |
XIX. MORAL CONTRAST.
So would it be when this great Day shall close
Which bore the Warrior to his dead repose,
If tinsell'd pageantry or painted scene
Gave the true witness which the day hath been.
But when the blazonry of public Woe
Fades from our vision, like an air-born show,
The deep significance which underlies
All outer-forms is one that never dies,
But melts into the moral life within
And prompts that spirit where those Aims begin
Which soar beyond a passion for renown,
And learn from Duty how to win the crown.
For England's people, from the humblest clan
Of working poor and toil-worn artisan,
From town, from hamlet, and the hawthorn-side
Where the lone cotters in contentment bide,
Have each received within responsive mind
Ennobling thoughts which elevate mankind.
And thus, perchance, when other palms are won,
Time will reveal how much this day hath done
To form the patriot in the public heart;
Or, teach the warrior his predestined part,
And sow, as far as pure Example can,
Those seeds, whose harvest is—heroic Man!
Which bore the Warrior to his dead repose,
If tinsell'd pageantry or painted scene
Gave the true witness which the day hath been.
But when the blazonry of public Woe
Fades from our vision, like an air-born show,
The deep significance which underlies
All outer-forms is one that never dies,
But melts into the moral life within
And prompts that spirit where those Aims begin
Which soar beyond a passion for renown,
And learn from Duty how to win the crown.
For England's people, from the humblest clan
Of working poor and toil-worn artisan,
From town, from hamlet, and the hawthorn-side
Where the lone cotters in contentment bide,
Have each received within responsive mind
Ennobling thoughts which elevate mankind.
And thus, perchance, when other palms are won,
Time will reveal how much this day hath done
To form the patriot in the public heart;
Or, teach the warrior his predestined part,
And sow, as far as pure Example can,
Those seeds, whose harvest is—heroic Man!
Mere vulgar Heroes of the vicious stamp
Whose names suggest a carnage, or a camp,
Meteors of Crime, the monsters of the past
Who sweep the world with desolating blast,
And when they perish in their dread career
Leave Time to track them by the widow's tear,—
May point the moral of some future page:
But, when the Warrior, Senator, and Sage
Meet in one man, like Him we mourn to-day,
Conscience predicts, what unborn years will say;—
That he had pass'd into the Nation's heart
Of which he grew a principal and part;
And when he died, far more than boundless Grief
Sought in the burial-pomp a fit relief,—
Each for himself put fun'ral raiment on,
And wept a friend in mourning Wellington.
Whose names suggest a carnage, or a camp,
Meteors of Crime, the monsters of the past
Who sweep the world with desolating blast,
And when they perish in their dread career
Leave Time to track them by the widow's tear,—
May point the moral of some future page:
But, when the Warrior, Senator, and Sage
Meet in one man, like Him we mourn to-day,
Conscience predicts, what unborn years will say;—
That he had pass'd into the Nation's heart
Of which he grew a principal and part;
And when he died, far more than boundless Grief
Sought in the burial-pomp a fit relief,—
Each for himself put fun'ral raiment on,
And wept a friend in mourning Wellington.
| The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery | |