Poems (Howard)/Trinity College

by Hattie Howard

Trinity College.

O Trinity! thy turrets gleam
 In proximate suburban space
Like vast cathedral towers, and seem
 Suggestive of some holy place;
Some quiet, quaint, monastic spot,
 "Within whose deep reclusive shade
Benignant priors might have taught,
 And strangely solemn friars prayed.

Grand metamorphosis of rocks!
 A blemish once on nature's face,
By sudden expedited shocks
 Of man's designing, rent apace;
The work of master-architect
 Amorphous mass who shaped anew,
That magic-like, without defect,
 Into thy storied structure grew.

O symbol of a golden age
 That typifies, in solid stone,
A progress neither seer nor sage
 Of ancient time had ever known!
For in symmetric, stately walls
 Is dignified an honored name
That Athens' classic haunts recalls,
 And rivals Alexandria's claim.

Here Xenophon's delightful maze
 Allures the philologic mind,
Or Plato's facile, honeyed phrase
 Ambitious youth their model find;
While Homer's bold hexameters,
 And Virgil's matchless epic lines,
To Poesy's wild worshipers
 Are sacred as their altar-shrines.

Thy bounds encircle forum-ground
 Where embryonic Presidents
The key to statesmanship have found,
 Or latent gift of eloquence;
While, promised guerdon of his dreams,
 More radiant than kingly crown,
To many a bright aspirant, seems
 The ermined robe, or surplice-gown.

Proud alma mater thou hast been
 Of scores of earth's successful sons
Who, in life's broad arena, win
 The plaudits of less favored ones;
Who toy with fame, and are beset
 By honor and prosperity—
But never, never quite forget
 Their love and reverence for thee.

Within thy portals year by year,
 From every clime beneath the sun,
May those assemble who revere
 The majesty of "Three in One";
Thus, o'er the daisied fields around
 Where student-feet shall press the sod,
With nature's worship shall resound
 The voice of praise to nature's God.