 | A Sonnet Chronicle |  |
25
Cecil Rhodes
March 26, 1902.
Now falls the lion-head of grizzled grey,
Now fades contemptuous sneer, persuasive smile,
Fails the blunt speech and loosely ordered style
That hid the deep-set purpose far away;
Ten thousand graves are opened on this day,
And gaunt and grim before his coffin file
Men fall'n in fight, men caught in fever's wile,
“We died, but we were one in heart,” cry they—
Now fades contemptuous sneer, persuasive smile,
Fails the blunt speech and loosely ordered style
That hid the deep-set purpose far away;
Ten thousand graves are opened on this day,
And gaunt and grim before his coffin file
Men fall'n in fight, men caught in fever's wile,
“We died, but we were one in heart,” cry they—
For this man saw beyond the common ken,
Adventurer, not for self nor sordid lust,
He felt th' Imperial mission in his blood,
And sharer of siege-famine, drouth and dust,
Or bold within that Matabele den,
He ruled by right of Saxon hardihood.
Adventurer, not for self nor sordid lust,
He felt th' Imperial mission in his blood,
And sharer of siege-famine, drouth and dust,
Or bold within that Matabele den,
He ruled by right of Saxon hardihood.
| A Sonnet Chronicle | |