Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NATHAN HALE, by CHESTER FIRKINS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NATHAN HALE, by                    
First Line: Somewhere beneath the thundering city's pave
Last Line: His solemn and triumphant requiem
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Hale, Nathan (1755-1776); New York City; Graveyards; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple


Somewhere beneath the thundering city's pave,
An unmarked grave;
Somewhere in the vast spaces beyond Time,
A fame sublime;
And that is all we watchers here below
May dream or know
Of him, the tranquil and intrepid soul
Who died for us among the death-drum's roll
In Henry Rutgers' orchard long ago.

You've been, perchance, in Market Street,
Where now the weary, hurrying feet
Of thousands clatter, day by day,
To join the throngs of East Broadway;
Where creak and crash of car and dray
Mingle with children's voices sweet;
Where poverty and sorrow meet,
And yet where some seem always gay.

Though toil and tumult wrap you 'round,
Tread softly—it is holy ground!
'Twas in September of the year
When Liberty first lifted clear
Her daring sword, they brought him here,
And slew him as he faced them bound,
And buried him without a mound
Or yet a blossom for his bier!

Oh, if your heart as mine doth burn,
These tenemental walls will turn
Into a yellowing orchard close,
With redcoat men in silent rows;
And he, in high, serene repose,
Lifts eyes that but a moment yearn
Toward his torn letters 'mongst the fern
As proudly to his doom he goes.

Somewhere beneath the thundering city's pave,
An unmarked grave;
But is not the great city o'er him sprent
His better monument?
These mighty sons of Cæsar and of Shem,
He died for them!
The tumult of the hosts he helped to free,
The roar of the wide mart, his elegy,
His solemn and triumphant requiem





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