Gave thee the mayflower and the golden- Best loved and saintliest of our singing rod To match the daisy and the daffodil. In the brave records of our earlier time A hero's deed thy generous soul inspired, And many a legend, told in ringing rhyme, The youthful soul with high resolve has fired. Not thine to lean on priesthood's broken reed; No barriers caged thee in a bigot's fold; Did zealots ask to syllable thy creed, Thou saidst Our Father,' and thy creed was told. train, Earth's noblest tributes to thy name belong. A lifelong record closed without a stain, A blameless memory shrined in deathless song. Lift from its quarried ledge a flawless stone; Smooth the green turf and bid the tablet rise, And on its snow-white surface carve alone These words, - he needs no more, HERE WHITTIER LIES. 40 1892. - 1892. 'OUR LOVE IS NOT A FADING EARTHLY FLOWER' OUR love is not a fading earthly flower: Its winged seed dropped down from Paradise, And, nursed by day and night, by sun and shower, Doth momently to fresher beauty rise: Our summer hearts make summer's fulness, where No leaf, or bud, or blossom may be seen: Whose mystic key these cells of Thou and I grate The wide-flung leaves of Heaven's own palace-gate. |