| Publication information |
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Source: Buffalo Review Source type: newspaper Document type: poem Document title: “Death Has Crowned Him as a Martyr” Author(s): Wilcox, Ella Wheeler City of publication: Buffalo, New York Date of publication: 16 September 1901 Volume number: 19 Issue number: 86 Pagination: 4 |
| Citation |
| Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. “Death Has Crowned Him as a Martyr.” Buffalo Review 16 Sept. 1901 v19n86: p. 4. |
| Transcription |
| full text |
| Keywords |
| McKinley assassination (poetry); William McKinley (poetry); William McKinley (death: poetry). |
| Named persons |
| Abraham Lincoln. |
| Notes |
| Both this one (below) and a subsequent poem appear on the same page under the collective heading “Poems in Honor of the Nation’s Dead.” |
| Document |
Death Has Crowned Him as a Martyr
In the midst of sunny waters, lo! the mighty Ship of State
Staggers, bruised and torn and wounded by a derelict of fate,
One that drifted from its moorings, in the anchorage of hate.On the deck our noble Pilot, in the glory of his prime,
Lies in woe-impelling silence, dead before his hour or time,
Victim of a mind self-centered, a godless fool of crime.One of earth’s dissension-breeders, one of Hate’s unreasoning tools,
In the annals of the ages, when the world’s hot anger cools,
He who sought for Crime’s distinction shall be known as Chief of Fools.In the annals of the ages, he who had no thought of fame
(Keeping on the path of duty, caring not for praise or blame),
Close beside the deathless Lincoln, writ in light, will shine his name.Youth proclaimed him as a hero; Time, a statesman; Love, a man.
Death has crowned him as a martyr, so from goal to goal he ran,
Knowing all the sum of glory that a human life may span.He was chosen by the people; not an accident of birth
Made him ruler of a nation, but his own intrinsic worth.
Fools may govern over kingdoms—not republics of the earth.He has raised the lover’s standard, by his loyalty and faith.
He has shown how virile manhood may keep free from scandal’s breath.
He has gazed, with trust unshaken, in the awful eyes of death.In the mighty march of progress he has sought to do his best.
Let his enemies be silent, as we lay him down to rest,
And may God assuage the anguish of one suffering woman’s breast.New Haven, Sept. 14.