University of Virginia Library

previous section Master and Scholar
next section
162

A VOICE FROM OXFORD.

On, noblest statesman thou of all our time,
On to the tasks that lie before thee still,
To guide, control, raise, purify the will
Of toiling millions in their manhood's prime.
Thy flight soars high above the cloudy clime
Where dull tradition holds her wonted sway,
And those who haunt the twilight hate the day,
And fear and sloth still lag behind the time.
We miss thee now, but England owns her son,
Tried in the fire that purifies the gold:
Ours is the loss, but thou hast nobly won;
Then on, be brave, the future's scroll unfold,
And, as the months of ordered progress run,
From out thy treasures bring forth new and old
July 1865.
previous section Master and Scholar
next section