That love of letters which is as the light <br />Of deathless verse, intense, ineffable, <br />Hath made this scholar’s nature like the white, <br />Pure Roman soul of whom the poets tell. <br />He having lived so long with lords of thought, <br />The grand hierophants of speech and song, <br />Hath from the high, august communion caught <br />Some portion of their inspiration strong. <br /> <br />The clear, bright atmosphere through which he looks <br />Is one by no dim, close horizon bound; <br />The power shed as flame from noble books <br />Hath made for him a larger world around. <br /> <br />And he, thus strengthened with the fourfold force <br />Which scholarship to genius gives, is one <br />That liberal thinkers, pausing in their course, <br />With fine esteem are glad to look upon. <br /> <br />He, with the faultless intuition born <br />Of splendid faculties, sees things aright, <br />And all his strong, immeasurable scorn <br />Falls like a thunder on the hypocrite. <br /> <br />But for the sufferer and the son of shame <br />On whom remorse — a great, sad burden — lies, <br />His kindness glistens like a morning flame, <br />Immense compassion shines within his eyes. <br /> <br />Firm to the Church by which his fathers stood, <br />But tolerant to every form of creed, <br />He longs for universal brotherhood, <br />And is a Christian gentleman indeed. <br /> <br />These in his honour. May his life be long, <br />And, like a summer with a brilliant close, <br />As full of music as a perfect song, <br />As radiant as a rich, unhandled rose.<br /><br />Henry Kendall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/william-bede-dalley/
