THE knightliest of the knightly race That, since the days of old, Have kept the lamp of chivalry Alight in hearts of gold; The kindliest of the kindly band That, rarely hating ease, Yet rode with Spotswood round the land, And Raleigh round the seas; Who climbed the blue Virginian hills Against embattled foes, And planted there, in valleys fair, The lily and the rose; Whose fragrance lives in many lands, Whose beauty stars the earth, And lights the hearths of happy homes With loveliness and worth. We thought they slept! -- the sons who kept The names of noble sires, And slumbered while the darkness crept Around their vigil fires; But aye the "Golden Horseshoe" knights Their old Dominion keep, Whose foes have found enchanted ground, But not a knight asleep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DUSK IN WAR TIME by SARA TEASDALE A DAY DREAM by EMILY JANE BRONTE A DEATH IN THE DESERT by ROBERT BROWNING HAILSTORM IN MAY by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ESCAPE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE ACHARNIANS: IN PRAISE OF THE POET by ARISTOPHANES |