University of Virginia Library


20

LORD DUDLEY STUART

By the grave's coldness palsied is the hand
Of whoso bends to drop into its loose
And humid soil the last memorial flower.
While others sing victorious arms, and wounds
Stauncht by the pennon, graspt until the grasp
Of Death was stronger, what for me remains
But languid sorrow and this verse inert?
Yet thine too, Dudley, thine was warfare, thine
Battle throughout not one brief day alone;
'Twas lifelong, more than lifelong; still it burns
In mightier hosts than ever Xerxes led,
Or Gengis, or that prouder one who warred
Against the Elements and Truth and God.
Dudley! what he undid thou wouldst restore.
O Scandinavia! thou hast borne erewhere
The bravest of mankind, and mourn'd the best
Of all the kings that ever ruled on earth:
His was pure faith, and valor as unstain'd.
Thus God, whom weak men say they glorify,

21

By him was glorified. In foren land
He fell; in foren land thou fallest too;
He for his country, thou for all who live.
Nov. 22, [1854].