Poems (Van Rensselaer)/The Builders of Renown

by Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer

THE BUILDERS OF RENOWN

I
Come, Fortune, put a rival to the test:
 Rear thrones, carve sceptres, spread imperial lands,
 And give them, lavish, into powerful hands,
Elizabeth's or Catherine's. Arrest

The flying storms to fight for her at sea,
 Buffeting 'neath her footstool the blown power
 Of broken-hearted Spain; to the topmost hour
Of England wed her name, and bid it be

Badge of the muse's lordliest avatar
 Since vocal Hellas drowsed and slept. Or where
 Great Peter set his frosty dais, there
Set hers, the blood-besprinkled, in the far,

Savage, and passionate North, and plant so much,
 With woman's daring worst, in her bold breast
 Of manhood's kingly and sagacious best
That, Paphian, yet she stands, valiant, with such

As strove to serve great nations. Thou canst so
 Build sovereign figures farthest time shall not
 Crowd from the living world to worlds forgot,
Nor from their crownèd eminence overthrow.

II
But turn thee now his handiwork to see
 Who is thy rival, though no god to frame
 Souls or fair forms as he would have them, name
Rulers to realms, or mark their destiny:

Only a mortal, dowered but with a voice,
 Who wanders up and down our daily ways
 Looking on what he loves and speaking praise,
Choosing from chance the best, and of his choice

Dreaming aloud in rhyme, yet sure and strong
 As Fortune to raise pedestals of fame.
 Let him but love, the letters of the name
Illumined by the radiance of his song

Shine fairer (as the star auroral is
 More fair than bravest beacon lit by hands)
 Than titles of the guardians of proud lands,
Illustrious queens, resplendent empresses.

Elizabeths and Catherines—they may lie
 Untouched of our desire while, thralled, we turn
 Pages that tell how Laura smiled, and learn
How Beatrice bent her head in passing by.