Here where the cypress tall <br />Shadows the stucco wall, <br />Bronze and deep, <br />Where the chrysanthemums blow, <br />And the roses--blood and snow-- <br />He lies asleep. <br /> <br />Florence dreameth afar; <br />Memories of foray and war, <br />Murmur still; <br />The Certosa crowns with a cold <br />Cloud of snow and gold <br />The olive hill. <br /> <br />What has he now for the streams <br />Born sweet and deep with dreams <br />From the cedar meres? <br />Only the Arno's flow, <br />Turbid, and weary, and slow <br />With wrath and tears. <br /> <br />What has he now for the song <br />Of the boatmen, joyous and long, <br />Where the rapids shine? <br />Only the sound of toil, <br />Where the peasants press the soil <br />For the oil and wine. <br /> <br />Spirit-fellow in sooth <br />With bold La Salle and Duluth, <br />And La Vérandrye,-- <br />Nothing he has but rest, <br />Deep in his cypress nest <br />With memory. <br /> <br />Hearts of steel and of fire, <br />Why do ye love and aspire, <br />When follows <br />Death--all your passionate deeds, <br />Garnered with rust and with weeds <br />In the hollows? <br /> <br />God that hardened the steel, <br />Bid the flame leap and reel, <br />Gave us unrest; <br />We act in the dusk afar, <br />In a star beyond your star, <br />His behest. <br /> <br />'We leave you dreams and names <br />Still we are iron and flames, <br />Biting and bright; <br />Into some virgin world, <br />Champions, we are hurled, <br />Of venture and fight.' <br /> <br />Here where the shadows fall, <br />From the cypress by the wall, <br />Where the roses are-- <br />Here is a dream and a name, <br />There, like a rose of flame, <br />Rises--a star.<br /><br />Duncan Campbell Scott<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/at-william-maclennan-s-grave/
