What shall be said of this soldier now dead? This builder, this brother, now resting forever? What shall be said of this soldier who bled Through thirty-three years of silent endeavor? Why, name him thy hero! Yea, write his name down As something far nobler, as braver by far Than purple-robed Caesar of battle-torn town When bringing home glittering trophies of war. Oh, dark somber pines of my starlit Sierras, Be silent of song, for the master is mute! The Carpenter, master, is dead and lo! there is Silence of song upon nature's draped lute! Brother! Oh, manly dead brother of mine! My brother by toil 'mid the toiling and lowly, My brother by sign of this hard hand, by sign Of toil, and hard toil, that the Christ has made holy: Yea, brother of all the brave millions that toil; Brave brother in patience and silent endeavor, Rest on, as the harvester rich from his soil, Rest you, and rest you for ever and ever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PLANTATION BACCHANAL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON EACH AND [OR, IN] ALL by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD by SAM WALTER FOSS A STRIP OF BLUE by LUCY LARCOM TO SHELLEY by JOHN BANISTER TABB |