POET of every soul that grieves O'er death untimely: whose lament Lights up the farthest Dark, and leaves A bow across the heavens bent: Dead in an upper room doth lie A nation's hero; can it be Thy ear too faintly hears the cry The West wind utters to the sea? Thy Concord paean may have caught Glow from an elder Garfield's name: What fitter aureole could be sought For such a son than such a flame! Bard of the Human: since we yearn For that one manly heart in vain, Forgive the reverent eyes that turn Toward the low stream in Concord plain. Warned by the favoring touch of Death, Thy @3Nunc Dimittis@1 thou hast sung; No more the thunder's stormy breath Shall sweep the lyre with lightnings strung. And yet, for him, remains -- unsigned, Unspoken -- all thy noble praise, When (port more worth the cruise!) thou find His sail beyond the final haze; But us? ..... O Seer, to whose gift Looms large the Future's better part, What other prophet voice shall lift This burden from the people's heart! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PORTRAIT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ON AN INFANT WHICH DIED BEFORE BAPTISM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE WHEN DEY 'LISTED COLORED SOLDIERS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR TWO VARIATIONS ON AN OLD NURSEY RHYME: 2 by EDITH SITWELL SONG: BUTTERFLIES by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT SOUNDS OF THE CITY by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE TO THE EARL OF CLARE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |