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MEMORIAL ODE[1]
THE peace we longed to keep
Our fate denied;
Reluctant we awoke, as from a sleep,
And saw the face of duty deified.
We followed with dismay
The awful hand
That drew us, step by step, along the way,
And pointed to an agonizing land.
Nearer it led and nearer
To dreadful death,
While ever to the spirit whispered clearer
A voice that promised something more than breath:
A voice that prophesied
Of victory,
Through mildness and compassion sanctified,—
Of conquest that ennobles and makes free.
- ↑ Written by request of the City of Philadelphia for the Peace Celebration and read at Independence Hall, October 28, 1898.
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