<h2><SPAN name="poem03"></SPAN>DEATH HAS CROWNED HIM A MARTYR</h2>
<p>(Written on the day of President McKinley’s death)</p>
<p class="poetry">In the midst of sunny waters, lo! the mighty
Ship of State<br/>
Staggers, bruised and torn and wounded by a derelict of fate,<br/>
One that drifted from its moorings in the anchorage of hate.</p>
<p class="poetry">On the deck our noble Pilot, in the glory of
his prime,<br/>
Lies in woe-impelling silence, dead before his hour or time,<br/>
Victim of a mind self-centred in a Godless fool of crime.</p>
<p class="poetry">One of earth’s dissension-breeders, one
of Hate’s unreasoning tools,<br/>
In the annals of the ages, when the world’s hot anger
cools,<br/>
He who sought for Crime’s distinction shall be known as
Chief of Fools.</p>
<p class="poetry">In the annals of the ages, he who had no thought of
fame<br/>
(Keeping on the path of duty, caring not for praise or blame),<br/>
Close beside the deathless Lincoln, writ in light, will shine his
name.</p>
<p class="poetry">Youth proclaimed him as a hero; time, a
statesman; love, a man;<br/>
Death has crowned him as a martyr,—so from goal to goal he
ran,<br/>
Knowing all the sum of glory that a human life may span.</p>
<p class="poetry">He was chosen by the people; not an accident of
birth<br/>
Made him ruler of a nation, but his own intrinsic worth.<br/>
Fools may govern over kingdoms—not republics of the
earth.</p>
<p class="poetry">He has raised the lovers’ standard by his
loyalty and faith,<br/>
He has shown how virile manhood may keep free from
scandal’s breath.<br/>
He has gazed, with trust unshaken, in the awful eyes of
Death.</p>
<p class="poetry">In the mighty march of progress he has sought to do his
best.<br/>
Let his enemies be silent, as we lay him down to rest,<br/>
And may God assuage the anguish of one suffering woman’s
breast.</p>
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