Behold, a monument we lack In memory of good old Jack! And let us rear it broad and high, In forked splendor, to the sky. How often have my weary feet Hastened his firm embrace to meet. How often has he set them free From cramped and burning agony. Or dust or mud, or rain or snow, No haughty scruple did he show. Or tight or loose, or large or small, An equal firmness mastered all. And whether coarse or fine the heel, His cordial grip was true as steel. No longer now the tortured foot Is prisoned in the racking boot. Light, flexible, to nature true, We wear the easy-going shoe. Emancipated now, shall we Forget that harsh captivity? Forget the friend of our duress Who aided us in sore distress? Come, let us raise a column fine, Of some bifurcated design. And be this blazon widely kenned: "Hic jacet Jack, a soleful friend." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 25 by ALFRED TENNYSON SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 2 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY THE SIEGE OF VIRE by OLIVIER BASSELIN NIMROD: 6 by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH THE VISION OF THE ARCHANGELS by RUPERT BROOKE THE RING AND THE BOOK: BOOK 2. HALF-ROME by ROBERT BROWNING SONG TO ONE WHO, WHEN I PRAIS'D MY MISTRESS' BEAUTY, SAID I WAS BLIND by THOMAS CAREW |