WEEP, Israel! your tardy meed outpour Of grateful homage on his fallen head, That never coronal of triumph wore, Untombed, dishonored, and unchapleted. If Victory makes the hero, raw Success The stamp of virtue, unremembered Be then the desperate strife, the storm and stress Of the last Warrior Jew. But if the man Who dies for freedom, loving all things less, Against world-legions, mustering his poor clan; The weak, the wronged, the miserable, to send Their death-cry's protest through the ages' span— If such an one be worthy, ye shall lend Eternal thanks to him, eternal praise, Nobler the conquered than the conqueror's end! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: WRITTEN ON THE DAY THAT MR. LEIGH HUNT LEFT PRISON by JOHN KEATS SINCERE FLATTERY OF R.B. by JAMES KENNETH STEPHEN THE SWING by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SONGS OF LABOR: DEDICATION by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LINES COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH SOIS SAGE O MA DOULEUR by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE THE YOUNG BROTHER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |