| Publication information |
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Source: Omar and Fitzgerald and Other Poems Source type: book Document type: poem Document title: “To the Nation’s Dead” Author(s): Jury, John G. Publisher: Whitaker and Ray Company Place of publication: San Francisco, California Year of publication: 1903 Pagination: 44-45 |
| Citation |
| Jury, John G. “To the Nation’s Dead.” Omar and Fitzgerald and Other Poems. San Francisco: Whitaker and Ray, 1903: pp. 44-45. |
| Transcription |
| full text |
| Keywords |
| William McKinley (mourning: poetry). |
| Named persons |
| none. |
| Notes |
| “These lines first appeared in a California newspaper on the morning of President McKinley’s burial” (p. vi). |
| Document |
To the Nation’s Dead
Yon cloud-craped mountains sadly stand
About thy tomb;
The mountains of a mighty land
Are robed in gloom.
Strong oaks drip tears upon the sod,
On mount, in dell;
While slender bluebells droop and nod,
To ring thy knell.The sobbing ocean sweeps the bar,
And breaks in moans,—
Re-echoing from the deep afar
Its minor tones;
Along the reef the choral waves
Recede and surge,
And choir with winds o’er deep sea-graves,
A solemn dirge.Resigned to all the ways of God,
In peace he sleeps;
Columbia, bowed above the sod,
In silence weeps.
We feel, we know that love is locked
Within a tear;
And ne’er is heart of courage mocked
By slavish fear.The silent stars from somber heights,
And lonely towers,
Enhallow all these simple rites
And forms of ours,— [44][45]
Upon the altars of our pain
Heaven’s radiance shed,—
Renew the promise, Man again
Shall live, though dead.