 | Voices and visions |  |
139
ANDRÉE
Far where the daybreak's domains beyond porches of pearl are reposing,
Wanders with bravery and buoyance the lark in its passion for light;
Far where steep hills are to heaven all their tumults of silence disclosing,
Float the huge condors round peaks which no thunderbolt's ravage may smite.
Wanders with bravery and buoyance the lark in its passion for light;
Far where steep hills are to heaven all their tumults of silence disclosing,
Float the huge condors round peaks which no thunderbolt's ravage may smite.
Yet since the wisdom of man could its fables from history sever,
Since from miraculous valour was torn the impossible palm,
Still more adventurous thou, in the dash of thy peerless endeavour,
Bankrupting courage with prowess, and shattering frenzy to calm.
Since from miraculous valour was torn the impossible palm,
Still more adventurous thou, in the dash of thy peerless endeavour,
Bankrupting courage with prowess, and shattering frenzy to calm.
Angers of sky, land or sea thou hast daunted alike in thy daring,
Poised on thy perilous craft between tempests aloft or below,
Whirled toward the bleak polar glooms whence auroras are rosily flaring,
Swept where the sun hangs appalled o'er illimited stagnance of snow.
Poised on thy perilous craft between tempests aloft or below,
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Swept where the sun hangs appalled o'er illimited stagnance of snow.
Thine was the purpose, the project, that veiled as with volumes of splendour
Tawdrier glories and honours, chance-garnered where battlefields blaze;
Thine the ambition that bounded, in flush of superb self-surrender,
Past all the tinsels and spangles man loots from his fratricide frays.
Tawdrier glories and honours, chance-garnered where battlefields blaze;
Thine the ambition that bounded, in flush of superb self-surrender,
Past all the tinsels and spangles man loots from his fratricide frays.
Laud not the captains that kill or the soldiers whom slaughter hath sated;
Here was a captaincy spotless and here was a soldiership high;
Broad though the doom of our death, 'tis alone with divinity freighted
When for large help to the living unsullied by bloodshed we die.
Here was a captaincy spotless and here was a soldiership high;
Broad though the doom of our death, 'tis alone with divinity freighted
When for large help to the living unsullied by bloodshed we die.
If thou indeed art no more, flung to earth from thy dome of defiance,
Warrior of warfare so matchless, meteor so fervid of flame,
Have not the winds and the waters achieved thee in stately alliance
Elegies, eulogies, obsequies, meet for so mighty a name?
Warrior of warfare so matchless, meteor so fervid of flame,
Have not the winds and the waters achieved thee in stately alliance
Elegies, eulogies, obsequies, meet for so mighty a name?
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Nay, among lands thou hast left, with requital and requiem blending,
Memory shall bide monumental and grief despite pain shall be proud:
Yonder in lands that beheld thine austere and magnificent ending,—
Ice for thy sepulchre, blast for thy mourners, and frost for thy shroud!
Memory shall bide monumental and grief despite pain shall be proud:
Yonder in lands that beheld thine austere and magnificent ending,—
Ice for thy sepulchre, blast for thy mourners, and frost for thy shroud!
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