Lines on the Death of President McKinley

Toll the bells—a nation weepeth
     For the son it loved so well;
Lo, the noble hero sleepeth,
     And our hearts with anguish swell.

Look, a tear is on the willow;
     List, a sigh is on the breeze,
And the ocean’s stormy billow
     Bears a wail across the seas.

God in heaven, our hearts are bleeding
     From the wound that he received;
Precious Savior, interceding,
     Soothe thou her this blow hath grieved.

Guide our rulers—guard our nation,
     May it still its mission fill,
And in every true relation,
     Rule according to thy will. [60][61]

Freemen, closer clasp each other
     In the bonds of love and peace,
Man to man, and for our brother,
     May our friendship still increase.

But for those who raise a finger
     To uproot our righteous laws,
May our anger never linger,
     Swift to guard our country’s cause.

“Law and order!” be our war cry,
     Down with anarchists of red;
Let us swear it, “live or die,”
     As we view our honored dead.