My kingly kinsmen, kings of thought, I hear your gathered symphonies, Such nights as when the world is not, And great stars chorus through my trees. We knew it, as God's prophets knew, We knew it, as mute red men know, When Mars leapt searching heaven through With flaming torch, that he must go. Then Browning, he who knew the stars, Stood forth and faced insatiate Mars. Then up from Cambridge rose and turned Sweet Lowell from his Druid trees -- Turned where the great star blazed and burned, As if his own soul might appease. Yet on and on through all the stars Still searched and searched insatiate Mars. Then stanch Walt Whitman saw and knew; Forgetful of his "Leaves of Grass," He heard his "Drum Taps" and God drew His great soul through the shining pass, Made light, made bright by burnished stars; Made scintillant from flaming Mars. Then soft-voiced Whittier was heard To cease; was heard to sing no more, As you have heard some sweetest bird The more because its song is o'er. Yet brighter up the street of stars Still blazed and burned and beckoned Mars. And then the king came; king of thought, King David with his harp and crown. . . . How wisely well the gods had wrought That these had gone and sat them down To wait and welcome 'mid the stars All silent in the light of Mars. All silent. . . So, he lies in state. . . . Our redwoods drip and drip with rain. . . . Against our rock-locked Golden Gate We hear the great, sad, sobbing main. But silent all. . . . He passed the stars That year the whole world turned to Mars. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT DOES A WOMAN WANT? by KAREN SWENSON ON EXPLORATION by JAMES GALVIN THE SONNET by RICHARD WATSON GILDER DEATH AND CUPID; AN ALLEGORY by JOHN GODFREY SAXE SIX O'CLOCK by TRUMBULL STICKNEY TO THE VERS LIBRIST WHO USES ONLY THE MINOR KEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE MORAL FABLES: THE TALE OF THE TWO MICE by AESOP |