MEMORIAM
In memory of our dead! The dead that lieNear, love-guarded graves, where still our tendernessCan reach out like a hand across the darkTo touch the still hands folded close in rest.The near, loved dead that were our own;That walked with us the busy common ways,And made life dear, and homely duties sweet.In memory of our dead! In memory of the memories that goForever with us, till we, too, shall lieWith still, white faces turned to meet the stars.In memory, in hope, in tenderness!Rest ye, O well-beloved, remembered dead!Peace with you! Ye that do but keepThe bivouac till we come.Ye that but wait us till the march is done;Arms stacked; and guidons flutteringAbove the camp of our eternal rest.In memory! In memory of the far, forgotten dead,That lie unheeded in the common dust.In memory of the daring hearts that sleepIn unmarked graves beside forgotten trails;The men who set their faces to the West,And blazed the way for empires yet to come—Winning at last a width of nameless sod.In memory! Wherever one brave soul goes outStrong-hearted on that last, lone road all men must take,He, too, is comrade, and his courage isA bugle call that rings “Advance, nor fear!”To every hard-pressed soul upon the way.Wherever one spent toiler for the common goodLets fall his tools from weary, calloused hands,His work is ours,—a trust to further to the fullest end.No hope that ever warmed a human heartWas lost when that heart crumbled into dust:The dreams that woke the sunrise of the world are ours—Our dead walk with us daily, hand in hand.But every joy we know to give or keep;By hearts more gentle, and by eyes more true,They are our own, and undivided still.In memory! In memory of the dead!In tenderness and hope for all who live!Peace with you, ye that lie at rest!Hope with you, ye that live and yet must faceThe pain of living!In memory, in hope, in tenderness!