May-Day - and Other Pieces by Ralph Waldo Emerson
page 88 of 121 (72%)
page 88 of 121 (72%)
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Even the serene Reason says,
It was well done. The wise and simple have one glance To greet yon stern head-stone, Which more of pride than pity gave To mark the Briton's friendless grave. Yet it is a stately tomb; The grand return Of eve and morn, The year's fresh bloom, The silver cloud, Might grace the dust that is most proud. Yet not of these I muse In this ancestral place, But of a kindred face That never joy or hope shall here diffuse. Ah, brother of the brief but blazing star! What hast thou to do with these Haunting this bank's historic trees? Thou born for noblest life, For action's field, for victor's car, Thou living champion of the right? To these their penalty belonged: I grudge not these their bed of death, But thine to thee, who never wronged The poorest that drew breath. All inborn power that could |
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