 | [To R. W. E., in] Concord school of philosophy |  |
215
TO R. W. E.
As, when a father dies, his children drawAbout the empty hearth, their loss to cheat
With uttered praise and love, and oft repeat
His all-familiar words with whispered awe,—
The honored habit of his daily law;
Not for his sake, but theirs, whose feebler feet
Need still that guiding lamp, whose faith less sweet
Misses that tempered patience without flaw;—
So do we gather round thy vacant chair,
In thine own elm-roofed, amber-rivered town,
Master and father! For the love we bear,
Not for thy fame's sake, do we weave this crown,
And feel thy presence in the sacred air,
Forbidding us to weep that thou art gone.
New York, May, 1884.
| [To R. W. E., in] Concord school of philosophy | |