Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PRINCE OF WALES AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON, by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PRINCE OF WALES AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold he reared a race and ruled them not
Last Line: The kingdom of the lord.
Alternate Author Name(s): Myers, Frederic
Subject(s): Edward Vii, King Of England (1841-1910); Presidents, United States; Washington, George (1732-1799)


Hic vir, hic est.

I

BEHOLD he reared a race and ruled them not,
And he shall rule a race he did not rear:
Warrior and prince, their former feud forgot,
Have found a meeting here.

II

And as of all that breathes the eldest birth
Sometime in ages out of human ken
Lived in the glory of the primal earth
A life unknown to men;

III

And in their time they perished as was meet,
They perished each as he had lived, alone,
And one or two of them beneath our feet
Have stiffened into stone;

IV

And one is standing under iron skies,
Beyond the range of life, the rule of law,
Locked in the arms of everlasting ice,
A wonder and an awe.

V

With such a marvel looked he on the tomb
Of that the rebel chief, forgiven at length,
With such a reverence pondered he the doom
Of that departed strength.

VI

And as he thought on him that lay below,
Of what a mighty one the bones were dust,
Surely by some strange sense he seemed to know
The presence of the Just.

VII

Surely he could not his own thought control,
But mute in expectation bent his head:
Seemed it not silently a solemn soul
Spake to him from the dead?

VIII

And thereunto he listened wondering,
While thus it said or thus it seemed to say,
Live with the light and, slowly vanishing,
Dead with the dying day.

IX

I crave no pardon, Prince, that led by me
This land revolted from thy fathers' rod:
It was not I that set the people free,
It was not I, but God.

X

Nor always shall a race with one accord
Yield due allegiance to a foreign throne,
No, nor shall always bow them to a lord
Whom they have never known.

XI

Neither can one consent for ever bind
Parent and offspring, but they shall at length
A closer union in disunion find,
In separation strength.

XII

Therefore at last in wrath the land arose,
And gathered frenzy from contest begun,
And on their kinsmen turning as their foes
Fought till the fight was won.

XIII

But through their tumult was I still the same,
And with one watchword kept the land in awe,
For ever stedfast to the single name
Of liberty and law.

XIV

Then as at length an end was put to strife,
And freedom born from our calamity,
And the long labour of heroic life
Had taught us victory:

XV

By many a wild wood, many a river fair,
Where stately Susquehanna sweeps along,
And where the nightingale on Delaware
Shrills everlasting song:

XVI

And where the sun on broad Missouri sleeps,
Or loud St. Lawrence speeds him stedfastly,
And where the strength of Niagara leaps
In thunder to the sea:

XVII

Or those that sail Huronian deeps upon,
Or tread Ontario's solitary shore;
And all the peoples west to Oregon,
And north to Labrador,

XVIII

At length delivered from a foreign yoke,
And finding fair conclusion to foul strife,
The stately cities filled with nobler folk,
And leapt to lustier life.

XIX

Yea from long tutelage risen a man at length
The mighty land took courage mightily,
To grow for evermore from strength to strength,
For evermore be free.

XX

And as the saviour of a royal race,
In ruddy gold inwrought divinely, saw
The Just at Council in a holy place,
And CATO gave them law:

XXI

Even so for many a country had I care,
And many a delegate obeyed my word;
No thought of wealth, no thought of birth was there,
Their greatest was their lord.

XXII

Yea, for I sought their profit as my own,
But in false ways their baser captains trod:
Each loved his own advantage: I alone
My people and my God.

XXIII

Therefore I ruled them till my work was done,
And ordered all their matters as was best:
And when at length my race was nobly run
I entered into rest.

XXIV

Simple I died as when I had my birth,
Unsoiled by lucre and unwarped by fame;
Leaving for ever to the sons of earth
My nation and my name.

XXV

In silence bent the prince an awful head,
In solemn silence turned him from the spot:
He heard the spirit of the mighty dead,
He heard and answered not.

XXVI

He left him to his glory and his rest,
Where ever, over-rained and over-shone,
Beneath the glimmer of the waning west
Shall that great ghost sleep on.

XXVII

But he returned him to his heritage
O'er many lands and many seas between,
And found the ruler of a reverent age
In majesty the Queen.

XXVIII

Who knowing well what such a love can do,
And what to her a mother's care became,
The future monarch of our race unto
Herself hath shown the same.

XXIX

With such a rule her firstborn did she rear
To tread the ways wherein his fathers trod:
So waxed his wisdom in the single fear
Of Justice and of God.

XXX

Such life of old the sturdy Sabine knew,
And Romulus was reared from such a home:
And with such sons to great dominion grew
The queen of cities, Rome.

XXXI

Likewise up-treasuring for time to be
Their future lord the flower of England saw
The wisdom of prophetic history,
The legend of the law.

XXXII

Yea they beheld him leading fearless days
In modest confidence and manly truth,
For ever winning with his royal ways
The heart of all the youth,

XXXIII

Unconsciously for ever compassing
A reign no turbulence shall think to move,
For no prerogative can fence a king
Like to his people's love.

XXXIV

But when the time was ripe she bade him go,
Nor to his ancient halls return again,
Till he might wander far, and widely know
The ways and homes of men:

XXXV

For surely such a science well befits
The son who springs with half the earth his own,
And with more honour such a sovereign sits
Upon a reverenced throne.

XXXVI

Not Alexander led so far his hosts
Across the earth, a never travelled way,
Beyond strange streams and o'er astonished coasts
Bound for the breaking day,

XXXVII

Nor drave so far the victor youth divine
The linked tigers of his leafy car,
Nor did the robber of the royal kine
His course extend so far.

XXXVIII

Albeit he caught the brazen-footed deer,
And laid the curse of Erymanthus low,
And shook at Lerna o'er the affrighted mere
The terror of his bow.

XXXIX

Hail flower of Europe, heir of half the earth,
Descendant noble of a noble line!
Blest none from heaven with so bright a birth,
So fair a fate as thine.

XL

Not at thy coming is vague terror shed
From hideous oracles and homes of guile,
Not at thy coming roar with nameless dread
The myriad mouths of Nile,

XLI

But for thy coming doth thy people wait
With stedfast confidence and hope serene;
And such a king expect to celebrate
As even now a queen:

XLII

And to thy coming looks whate'er of good
Is anywise oppressed or overworn,
Or anywhere for lack of hardihood
Is subject unto scorn:

XLIII

Albeit for thee be little left to do,
And after noble mother noble son
This task alone shall find, to carry through
The work so well begun.

XLIV

For such thy mission, prince, and such thy praise,
To war for ever with the powers of wrong,
To lift the humble into happier days,
Yea, and to crush the strong.

XLV

Oh might so long a life to me remain
And such a sacred strength in me increase,
To tell of thee, the wonder of thy reign,
Of honour and of peace.

XLVI

Oh might I see, nor only thus presage,
The mighty months at length begin to roll,
And feel the glory of a grander age
Strike on my startled soul.

XLVII

Nor me should Thracian Orpheus vanquish then
Nor Linus, glad in mother or in sire,
No, nor Apollo strike more sweet to men
The music of his lyre.

XLVIII

Long time, O Prince, in honour hold thine own,
With life song-worthy of all bards that sing,
And in thy season failing, leave thy throne
To many a gracious king:

XLIX

Until all storm at length be overpast,
And every land in darkness lying still
Be filled with light, and every race at last
Learn their Redeemer's will:

L

Till every wandering sheep have turned him home,
And shaped to pruning-hooks be every sword,
And all the kingdoms of the earth become
The kingdom of the Lord.





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