And hail the blue benignant skies
Resigned and grandly comforted.
It was for this you broke the way
Before the sunset gates of Day—
For this, with God-like faith endued,
You scaled the mystic crags of Fate,
And with resounding labors hewed
The Doric pillars of the state.
Resigned and grandly comforted.
It was for this you broke the way
Before the sunset gates of Day—
For this, with God-like faith endued,
You scaled the mystic crags of Fate,
And with resounding labors hewed
The Doric pillars of the state.
There is no task for you to do—
Your tents are furled, the bugle blown—
But yet another day, and you
Will live in clustered fame alone.
The fir will chant a song of rue,
The pine will drop a wreath, maybe,
And o'er the dim Cascades the stars
Will nightly roll their gleaming cars
You followed well from sea to sea.
Before your scarred battalions wheel
Into the mystic realm of shade,
And on your grizzled brows the seal
Of mystery is softly laid,
Once more around your old campfires,
That smoulder like fulfilled desires,
Rehearse the story of your toil—
Set forth the hero crowned with spoil—
The glimmer of triumphant steel,
Beneath the garland and the braid.
Your tents are furled, the bugle blown—
But yet another day, and you
Will live in clustered fame alone.
The fir will chant a song of rue,
The pine will drop a wreath, maybe,
And o'er the dim Cascades the stars
Will nightly roll their gleaming cars
You followed well from sea to sea.
Before your scarred battalions wheel
Into the mystic realm of shade,
And on your grizzled brows the seal
Of mystery is softly laid,
Once more around your old campfires,
That smoulder like fulfilled desires,
Rehearse the story of your toil—
Set forth the hero crowned with spoil—
The glimmer of triumphant steel,
Beneath the garland and the braid.
O further than the legiona bora
The eagles of imperial Rome,
The eagles of imperial Rome,
