Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE COLLEGE, 1917, by HAMILTON FISH ARMSTRONG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COLLEGE, 1917, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The darkness is full of well-remembered sounds
Last Line: Your ghostly honor-roll.
Subject(s): Princeton University


The darkness is full of well-remembered sounds
And smells of vanished spring.
Old North's calm clock is making his tuneful rounds,
The echoes leap and sing
In the old old way from star-topped tower to tower --
I pause in the shadow and strain
For the voices that now will arise to salute the hour:
But they come not here again.

Cradled along the tops of the ancient trees
Swings autumn's newest moon --
The shadows shiver before the silent breeze
Heralding Night's high-noon.
Scattered lights gleam out through the leaded glass,
Where the lowest leaves begin:
But many a window is dark, and I turn and pass
Where I used to enter in.

On the edge of night when still is seen no morning,
Princeton, you stand and smile.
Glad to give, when the call followed the warning,
Your sons for a little while.
And if they come not again, as before some came not,
Heart-free and young and whole,
They know their names, like their fathers' fathers', shame not
Your ghostly honor-roll.





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