 | Sonnets and Other Poems |  |
54
XVIII. A POSITIVIST SOLEMNITY.
Now dawns the sacred day of All the Dead.Not only those by household memories
Link'd with our lives, for whom on bended knees
Daily we yearn, and tears not seldom shed—
Nor only the great spirits who have led
Man's upward march to nobler destinies,
Whose record in Fame's golden book is read—
We reverence to-day; not only these,
But all, in whatsoever age or clime
(Albeit the names of most the unpitying Hours
Have hid for ever in the abyss of time),
Who faithful, patient, helpful strove to be,
And so, while worshipping imagin'd Powers,
True service did, Humanity! to Thee.
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