Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments By Frederic W. H. Myers: Edited by his Wife Eveleen Myers |
THE PRINCE OF WALES AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON |
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Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments | ||
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THE PRINCE OF WALES AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON
Hic vir, hic est.
I
Behold he reared a race and ruled them not,And he shall rule a race he did not rear:
Warrior and prince, their former feud forgot,
Have found a meeting here.
II
And as of all that breathes the eldest birthSometime in ages out of human ken
Lived in the glory of the primal earth
A life unknown to men;
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III
And in their time they perished as was meet,They perished each as he had lived, alone,
And one or two of them beneath our feet
Have stiffened into stone;
IV
And one is standing under iron skies,Beyond the range of life, the rule of law,
Locked in the arms of everlasting ice,
A wonder and an awe.
V
With such a marvel looked he on the tombOf that the rebel chief, forgiven at length,
With such a reverence pondered he the doom
Of that departed strength.
VI
And as he thought on him that lay below,Of what a mighty one the bones were dust,
Surely by some strange sense he seemed to know
The presence of the Just.
VII
Surely he could not his own thought control,But mute in expectation bent his head:
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Spake to him from the dead?
VIII
And thereunto he listened wondering,While thus it said or thus it seemed to say,
Live with the light and, slowly vanishing,
Dead with the dying day.
IX
I crave no pardon, Prince, that led by meThis land revolted from thy fathers' rod:
It was not I that set the people free,
It was not I, but God.
X
Nor always shall a race with one accordYield due allegiance to a foreign throne,
No, nor shall always bow them to a lord
Whom they have never known.
XI
Neither can one consent for ever bindParent and offspring, but they shall at length
A closer union in disunion find,
In separation strength.
XII
Therefore at last in wrath the land arose,And gathered frenzy from contest begun,
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Fought till the fight was won.
XIII
But through their tumult was I still the same,And with one watchword kept the land in awe,
For ever stedfast to the single name
Of liberty and law.
XIV
Then as at length an end was put to strife,And freedom born from our calamity,
And the long labour of heroic life
Had taught us victory:
XV
By many a wild wood, many a river fair,Where stately Susquehanna sweeps along,
And where the nightingale on Delaware
Shrills everlasting song:
XVI
And where the sun on broad Missouri sleeps,Or loud St. Lawrence speeds him sted-fastly,
And where the strength of Niagara leaps
In thunder to the sea:
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XVII
Or those that sail Huronian deeps upon,Or tread Ontario's solitary shore;
And all the peoples west to Oregon,
And north to Labrador,
XVIII
At length delivered from a foreign yoke,And finding fair conclusion to foul strife,
The stately cities filled with nobler folk,
And leapt to lustier life.
XIX
Yea from long tutelage risen a man at lengthThe mighty land took courage mightily,
To grow for evermore from strength to strength,
For evermore be free.
XX
And as the saviour of a royal race,In ruddy gold in wrought divinely, saw
The Just at Council in a holy place,
And Cato gave them law:
XXI
Even so for many a country had I care,And many a delegate obeyed my word;
No thought of wealth, no thought of birth was there,
Their greatest was their lord.
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XXII
Yea, for I sought their profit as my own,But in false ways their baser captains trod:
Each loved his own advantage: I alone
My people and my God.
XXIII
Therefore I ruled them till my work was done,And ordered all their matters as was best:
And when at length my race was nobly run
I entered into rest.
XXIV
Simple I died as when I had my birth,Unsoiled by lucre and unwarped by fame;
Leaving for ever to the sons of earth
My nation and my name.
XXV
In silence bent the prince an awful head,In solemn silence turned him from the spot:
He heard the spirit of the mighty dead,
He heard and answered not.
XXVI
He left him to his glory and his rest,Where ever, over-rained and over-shone,
Beneath the glimmer of the waning west
Shall that great ghost sleep on.
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XXVII
But he returned him to his heritageO'er many lands and many seas between,
And found the ruler of a reverent age
In majesty the Queen.
XXVIII
Who knowing well what such a love can do,And what to her a mother's care became,
The future monarch of our race unto
Herself hath shown the same.
XXIX
With such a rule her firstborn did she rearTo tread the ways wherein his fathers trod:
So waxed his wisdom in the single fear
Of Justice and of God.
XXX
Such life of old the sturdy Sabine knew,And Romulus was reared from such a home:
And with such sons to great dominion grew
The queen of cities, Rome.
XXXI
Likewise up-treasuring for time to beTheir future lord the flower of England saw
The wisdom of prophetic history,
The legend of the law.
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XXXII
Yea they beheld him leading fearless daysIn modest confidence and manly truth,
For ever winning with his royal ways
The heart of all the youth,
XXXIII
Unconsciously for ever compassingA reign no turbulence shall think to move,
For no prerogative can fence a king
Like to his people's love.
XXXIV
But when the time was ripe she bade him go,Nor to his ancient halls return again,
Till he might wander far, and widely know
The ways and homes of men:
XXXV
For surely such a science well befitsThe son who springs with half the earth his own,
And with more honour such a sovereign sits
Upon a reverenced throne.
XXXVI
Not Alexander led so far his hostsAcross the earth, a never travelled way,
Beyond strange streams and o'er astonished coasts
Bound for the breaking day,
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XXXVII
Nor drave so far the victor youth divineThe linked tigers of his leafy car,
Nor did the robber of the royal kine
His course extend so far.
XXXVIII
Albeit he caught the brazen-footed deer,And laid the curse of Erymanthus low,
And shook at Lerna o'er the affrighted mere
The terror of his bow.
XXXIX
Hail flower of Europe, heir of half the earth,Descendant noble of a noble line!
Blest none from heaven with so bright a birth,
So fair a fate as thine.
XL
Not at thy coming is vague terror shedFrom hideous oracles and homes of guile,
Not at thy coming roar with nameless dread
The myriad mouths of Nile,
XLI
But for thy coming doth thy people waitWith stedfast confidence and hope serene;
And such a king expect to celebrate
As even now a queen:
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XLII
And to thy coming looks whate'er of goodIs anywise oppressed or overworn,
Or anywhere for lack of hardihood
Is subject unto scorn:
XLIII
Albeit for thee be little left to do,And after noble mother noble son
This task alone shall find, to carry through
The work so well begun.
XLIV
For such thy mission, prince, and such thy praise,To war for ever with the powers of wrong,
To lift the humble into happier days,
Yea, and to crush the strong.
XLV
Oh might so long a life to me remainAnd such a sacred strength in me increase,
To tell of thee, the wonder of thy reign,
Of honour and of peace.
XLVI
Oh might I see, nor only thus presage,The mighty months at length begin to roll,
And feel the glory of a grander age
Strike on my startled soul.
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XLVII
Nor me should Thracian Orpheus vanquish thenNor Linus, glad in mother or in sire,
No, nor Apollo strike more sweet to men
The music of his lyre.
XLVIII
Long time, O Prince, in honour hold thine own,With life song-worthy of all bards that sing,
And in thy season failing, leave thy throne
To many a gracious king:
XLIX
Until all storm at length be overpast,And every land in darkness lying still
Be filled with light, and every race at last
Learn their Redeemer's will:
L
Till every wandering sheep have turned him home,And shaped to pruning-hooks be every sword,
And all the kingdoms of the earth become
The kingdom of the Lord.
Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments | ||