O NOBLE youth that held our honour in keeping, And bore it sacred through the battle flame, How shall we give full measure of acclaim To thy sharp labour, thy immortal reaping? For though we sowed with doubtful hands, half sleeping, Thou in thy vivid pride hast reaped a nation, And brought it in with shouts and exultation, With drums and trumpets, with flags flashing and leaping. Let us bring pungent wreaths of balsam, and tender Tendrils of wild-flowers, lovelier for thy daring, And deck a sylvan shrine, where the maple parts The moonlight, with lilac bloom, and the splendour Of suns unwearied; all unwithered wearing Thy valour stainless in our heart of hearts. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNCLE JIM'S BAPTIST REVIVAL HYMN by SIDNEY LANIER MARIANNE MOORE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE POPLAR by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 13 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AND WHAT SHALL YOU SAY? by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. MOTHER O' MINE by RUDYARD KIPLING ODE TO MASTER ANTHONY STAFFORD [TO HASTEN HIM INTO COUNTRY] by THOMAS RANDOLPH THE SURPRISE AT TICONDEROGA [MAY 10, 1775] by MARY ANNA PHINNEY STANSBURY |