Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OUR DEAD HEROES, by ROSE TERRY COOKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OUR DEAD HEROES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Rest on, o heroes! In your silent slumber!
Last Line: And heaven, still just, bestow the martyr's palm.
Subject(s): Holidays; Veterans Day


REST on, O heroes! in your silent slumber!
Hail and farewell, ye mighty, moveless dead!
Long as her centuries Earth shall know and number,
Green be the laurel boughs above ye spread.

Your course is sped; your record man remembers,
And God's own hand your sacred dust shall keep;
Though all the flame hath left those mortal embers,
Upward it sprang, with bright, immortal leap.

Sleep in your country's heart; forever holy
Your memory shines along the slopes we tread;
Another hundred years their incense lowly
Ere long shall o'er your sculptured honors shed.

And we who bring you grace and salutation,
We, too, shall sleep; and nobler tribes of men
Shall offer here the homage of a nation
Rich with a wisdom far beyond our ken.

But still, as years return, shall man returning
Fight, fall, despair, or chant the conqueror's psalm,
Still the same light in patriot hearts be burning,
And Heaven, still just, bestow the martyr's palm.





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