JAMES BRAIDWOOD: Died June 22, 1861. <br /> <br />NOT at the battle front,--writ of in story; <br />Not on the blazing wreck steering to glory; <br /> <br />Not while in martyr-pangs soul and flesh sever, <br />Died he--this Hero new; hero forever. <br /> <br />No pomp poetic crowned, no forms enchained him, <br />No friends applauding watched, no foes arraigned him: <br /> <br />Death found him there, without grandeur or beauty, <br />Only an honest man doing his duty: <br /> <br />Just a God-fearing man, simple and lowly, <br />Constant at kirk and hearth, kindly as holy: <br /> <br />Death found--and touched him with finger in flying:-- <br />Lo! he rose up complete--hero undying. <br /> <br />Now, all men mourn for him, lovingly raise him <br />Up from his life obscure, chronicle, praise him; <br /> <br />Tell his last act, done midst peril appalling, <br />And the last word of cheer from his lips falling; <br /> <br />Follow in multitudes to his grave's portal; <br />Leave him there, buried in honor immortal. <br /> <br />So many a Hero walks unseen beside us, <br />Till comes the supreme stroke sent to divide us. <br /> <br />Then the LORD calls His own,--like this man, even, <br />Carried, Elijah-like, fire-winged, to heaven.<br /><br />Dinah Maria Mulock Craik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-true-hero-4/
