Valete Tennyson and other Memorial Poems by H. D. Rawnsley |
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Mourners Absent from the Kaiser's Funeral.
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 | Valete |  |
45
Mourners Absent from the Kaiser's Funeral.
MARCH 16TH, 1888.
Prince of the head to think, the soul to feel,
The will to govern, and the hand to guide,
With that twin pillar-statesman at your side,
Who built the nation's wall of guardian steel—
For you we grieve the most. Dark death must heal
The wound Death gave, and lonely in the tide
You still must stand rock-natured, and must hide
A heart that aches for him who gave the Seal.
The will to govern, and the hand to guide,
With that twin pillar-statesman at your side,
Who built the nation's wall of guardian steel—
For you we grieve the most. Dark death must heal
The wound Death gave, and lonely in the tide
You still must stand rock-natured, and must hide
A heart that aches for him who gave the Seal.
But when the torches flamed upon the way—
That sad triumphal way—and cannons' boom
Shook the drear streets walled up to bitter heaven
With signs of woe and faces in dismay,
We thanked our God such friends to kings were given,
Our praises filled the absent mourners' room.
That sad triumphal way—and cannons' boom
Shook the drear streets walled up to bitter heaven
With signs of woe and faces in dismay,
We thanked our God such friends to kings were given,
Our praises filled the absent mourners' room.
| Valete | |