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Served in building the buildings that last longer
than any,
Served the Hebrew, the Persian, the most ancient
Hindostanee,
Served the mound-raiser on the Mississippi—served
those whose relics remain in Central America,
Served Albic temples in woods or on plains, with
unhewn pillars, and the druids, and the bloody
body laid in the hollow of the great stone,
Served the artificial clefts, vast, high, silent, on the
snow-covered hills of Scandinavia,
Served those who, time out of mind, made on the
granite walls rough sketches of the sun, moon,
stars, ships, ocean-waves,
Served the paths of the irruptions of the Goths—
served the pastoral tribes and nomads,
Served the incalculably distant Kelt—served the
hardy pirates of the Baltic,
Served before any of those, the venerable and harmless
men of Ethiopia,
Served the making of helms for the galleys of
pleasure, and the making of those for war,
Served all great works on land, and all great works
on the sea,
For the mediæval ages, and before the mediæval
ages,
Served not the living only, then as now, but served
the dead.

17. I see the European headsman,
He stands masked, clothed in red, with huge legs,
and strong naked arms,
And leans on a ponderous axe.