NOW is there rest for heart and brain <br />No mandate calls to him again. <br />The lips that voiced the People’s will <br />Are powerless now, and very still. <br />The heart that loved the common cause, <br />The brain that wrought a Nation’s laws— <br />These are no more. There only creeps <br />The shadow of a common grief. <br />We, who have reaped what he has sown, <br />Shall we not sorrow for our own, <br />Though now in silence and relief <br />The Tribune of the People sleeps! <br />Life hath its crowns in War and Art, <br />In Council Hall and busy Mart— <br />The noblest that a man may win <br />Is that his name shall linger in <br />The People’s heart. <br /> <br />For never shall oblivion slight <br />The hearts that fight the People’s fight. <br />Much less, when, thro’ a life of stress, <br />One voice ’gainst countless odds has stood, <br />And won, in pain and bitterness, <br />The People’s good. <br /> <br />He buildeth best who buildeth sure, <br />Who, year by year, lays stone on stone, <br />Broad-based and steadfast to endure, <br />Whose guerdon is his work alone— <br />There is no fame to rise above <br />The crowning honour of a People’s love. <br /> <br />So leave him to his rest, who toiled for all, <br />Nor gave his life to pile ill-gotten gains. <br />He passes to obey the Master call: <br />His work remains.<br /><br />George Essex Evans<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/william-henry-groom-vale/
