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AT
WILLIAM MACLENNAN'S GRAVE
|
|
HERE
where the cypress tall
Shadows the stucco wall, |
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| |
Bronze
and deep, |
|
Where
the chrysanthemums blow,
And the roses—blood and snow— |
5 |
| |
He lies
asleep.
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|
FLORENCE
dreameth afar;
Memories of foray and war, |
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| |
Murmur
still; |
|
The
Certosa crowns with a cold
Cloud of snow and gold |
10 |
| |
The
olive hill.
|
|
WHAT
has he now for the streams
Born sweet and deep with dreams |
|
| |
From
the cedar meres? |
15 |
Only
the Arno's flow,
Turbid, and weary, and slow |
|
| |
With
wrath and tears.
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|
WHAT
has he now for the song
Of the boatmen, joyous and long, |
20 |
| |
Where
the rapids shine? |
|
Only
the sound of toil,
Where the peasants press the soil |
|
| |
For
the oil and wine.
|
|
SPIRIT-FELLOW
in sooth
With bold La Salle and Duluth, |
25 |
| |
And
La Vérandrye,— |
|
Nothing
he has but rest,
Deep in his cypress nest |
|
| |
With
memory. |
30 |
HEARTS of steel and of fire,
Why do ye love and aspire,
|
|
| |
When
follows |
|
Death—all
your passionate deeds,
Garnered with rust and with weeds |
35 |
| |
In the
hollows?
|
|
"GOD
that hardened the steel,
Bid the flame leap and reel, |
|
| |
Gave
us unrest; |
|
We
act in the dusk afar,
In a star beyond your star, |
40 |
| |
His
behest.
|
|
"WE
leave you dreams and names
Still we are iron and flames, |
|
| |
Biting
and bright; |
45 |
Into
some virgin world,
Champions, we are hurled, |
|
| |
Of venture
and fight."
|
|
HERE
where the shadows fall,
From the cypress by the wall, |
50 |
| |
Where
the roses are— |
|
Here
is a dream and a name,
There, like a rose of flame, |
|
| |
Rises—a
star. |
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|
