We are the smirched. Queen Honor is the spotless. We slept thro' wars where Honor could not sleep. We were faint-hearted. Honor was full-valiant. We kept a silence Honor could not keep. Yet this late day we make a song to praise her. We, codeless, will yet vindicate her code. She who was mighty, walks with us, the beggars. The merchants drive her out upon the road. She makes a throne of sod beside our campfire. We give the maiden-queen our rags and tears. A battered, rascal guard have rallied round her, To keep her safe until the better years. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FLUSH OR FAUNUS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING JEWISH HYMN IN BABYLON by HENRY HART MILMAN MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 13 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE SINGER IN THE PRISON by WALT WHITMAN EPIGRAM by DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS WHOM EARTH HAS TAUGHT: PROSPICENCE by MARGARET PERKINS BRIGGS |