What meed of tribute can the poet pay

The Soldier, but to trail the ivy-vine

Of idle rhyme above his grave to-day

In epitaph design?—

Or wreathe with laurel-words the icy brows

That ache no longer with a dream of fame,

But, pillowed lowly in the narrow house,

Renown’d beyond the name.

The dewy tear-drops of the night may fall,

And tender morning with her shining hand