1856

IN MEMORIAM

by William Cullen Bryant

IN MEMORIAM -

Two hundred times has June renewed

Her roses since the day

When here, amid the lonely wood,

Our fathers met to pray. -

Beside this gentle stream that strayed

Through pathless deserts then,

The calm, heroic women prayed,

And grave, undaunted men. -

Hymns on the ancient silence broke

From hearts that faltered not,

And undissembling lips that spoke

The free and guileless thought. -

They prayed, and thanked the Almighty One

Who made their hearts so strong,

And led them, towards the setting sun,

Beyond the reach of wrong. -

He made for them that desert place

A pleasant heritage,

The cradle of a free-born race,

From peaceful age to age. -

The plant they set- a little vine-

Has stretched its boughs afar,

To distant hills and streams that shine

Beneath the evening star. -

Their fields are ours- these fields that smile

With summer's early flowers;

Oh, let their fearless' scorn of guile,

And love of truth, be ours. - -