The Rhodes Memorial at Oxford The Work of Cecil Rhodes: A Sonnet-Sequence: By Theodore Watts-Dunton |
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| I. | I
The Quest is the Crown
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| II. |
 | The Rhodes Memorial at Oxford |  |
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I
The Quest is the Crown
When Rhodes lay dying on Pain's remorseless bed—
When even Death's cold wings round pillow and sheet
Wafted no coolness through the stifling heat—
When comrades whom, in glorious days, he led
Were stealing round the room with silent tread,
Watching how Pain could slay yet not defeat,—
Hopeless, yet praying for Hope to come and cheat,—
‘So little done, so much to do!’ he said.
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And sinks uncrown'd. Did he, then, run in vain
Who gave his kin that star-belov'd domain,
From Kimberley to where the waters roll,
With sunbow-coloured spray for aureole,
Adown Victoria Falls? Ah! not in vain!
| The Rhodes Memorial at Oxford | |