 | [Old Brown, in] Echoes of Harper's Ferry |  |
Old Brown.
I.
Success goes royal-crowned through time,
Down all the loud applauding days,
Purpled in History's silkenest phrase,
And brave with many a poet's rhyme.
Down all the loud applauding days,
Purpled in History's silkenest phrase,
And brave with many a poet's rhyme.
While Unsuccess, his peer and mate,
Sprung from the same heroic race,
Begotten of the same embrace,
Dies at his brother's palace gate.
Sprung from the same heroic race,
Begotten of the same embrace,
Dies at his brother's palace gate.
The insolent laugh, the blighting sneer,
The pointing hand of vulgar scorn,
The thorny path, and wreath of thorn,
The many-headed's stupid jeer,
The pointing hand of vulgar scorn,
The thorny path, and wreath of thorn,
The many-headed's stupid jeer,
Show where he fell. And by-and-by,
Comes History, in the waning light,
Her pen-nib worn with lies, to write
The failure into infamy.
Comes History, in the waning light,
Her pen-nib worn with lies, to write
The failure into infamy.
Ah, God! but here and there, there stands
Along the years, a man to see
Beneath the victor's bravery
The spots upon the lily hands:
Along the years, a man to see
Beneath the victor's bravery
The spots upon the lily hands:
To read the secret will of good,
(Dead hope, and trodden into earth,)
That beat the breast of strife for birth,
And died birth-choked, in parent blood.
(Dead hope, and trodden into earth,)
That beat the breast of strife for birth,
And died birth-choked, in parent blood.
II.
Old Lion! tangled in the net,
Baffled and spent, and wounded sore,
Bound, thou who ne'er knew bonds before:
A captive, but a lion yet.
Baffled and spent, and wounded sore,
Bound, thou who ne'er knew bonds before:
A captive, but a lion yet.
Death kills not. In a later time,
(O, slow, but all-accomplishing!)
Thy shouted name abroad shall ring,
Wherever right makes war sublime:
(O, slow, but all-accomplishing!)
Thy shouted name abroad shall ring,
Wherever right makes war sublime:
When in the perfect scheme of God,
It shall not be a crime for deeds
To quicken liberating creeds,
And men shall rise where slaves have trod;
It shall not be a crime for deeds
To quicken liberating creeds,
And men shall rise where slaves have trod;
Then he, the fearless future Man,
Shall wash the blot and stain away,
We fix upon thy name to-day—
Thou hero of the noblest plan.
Shall wash the blot and stain away,
We fix upon thy name to-day—
Thou hero of the noblest plan.
O, patience! Felon of the hour!
Over thy ghastly gallows-tree
Shall climb the vine of Liberty,
With ripened fruit and fragrant flower.
Over thy ghastly gallows-tree
Shall climb the vine of Liberty,
With ripened fruit and fragrant flower.
| [Old Brown, in] Echoes of Harper's Ferry | |