Heirs of great yesterdays, be proud with me Of your most envied treasure of the Past; Not wide domain; not doubtful wealth amassed; Not ganglia cities—rival worlds to be:— But great souls, servitors of Liberty, Who kept the state to star-set Honor fast, Not for ourselves alone but that, at last, No nation should to Baal bow the knee. Are we content to be inheritors? Can you not hear the pleading of the sod That canopies our heroes? Hasten, then! Help the sad earth unlearn the vogue of war. Be just and earn the eternal praise of men; Be generous and win the smile of God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? by PAUL VERLAINE A BALLAD OF SARSFIELD; OR, THE BURSTING OF THE GUNS by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE ON MONSIEUR'S DEPARTURE by ELIZABETH I REMEMBERED MUSIC; A FRAGMENT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE MOTHER'S HEART by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON SCUM O' THE EARTH' by ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER IN MEMORY OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE |