Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1859-03-04
poGtrn.
THE PRIZE POnn ON BURNs.


THE PRIZE POBM ON BURNS.
ny IsA CRAIG.
The following s the poem which took the prize Of az
pounds offered In GrestBrtan for the best poem onuru
10 be read At the Centenary Celebration Of his Bithds
N the Crystal Palace.
wehai this morn
centurys noiest birth;
Poet pcasant-born,
who more Of Femc's immortal dover
Unto his country brings,
Than all her Kingsi
As lamps high set
Upon some earthly cmnence--
And TO tho gozer brighter thence
Than the sphere lights they aout--
Dwindlo in distance and die out,
While oEar waneth yet;
So through Tho Past's far-reaching night
Only tho star-souls keep their light
gentle boy
With moods Of sadness and Of mirth,
Quick tears and sudden joy
Grew up beside the peasants hearth.
His fathers toll he shares;
But half his mothers cares
From his dark searching eyes,
Too swift to sympsthise,
Hid in her heart SIZE bears.
At cnrly morn
His father calls him to the Geld;
Through the stilT soil that clogs his feet,
Chin rain and harvest heat,
Hc plods all day; returus at eve outworp,
To the rude fare PEASANTS lot doth yield;
Towhat else was he borni
The God-made King
ofevery living thing
(For his great heart in love could hold them alD;
The dumb eyes meeting his by hearth and STALL
Gifted to underestimate
Know tand sought his hand;
Andthe most timorous creature had not fed,
Could she his heart have read,
Which fan all feeble things had blessed and sheltered
To Natures fsast-
Who knew hcrnoblest guest
And entertained him best
Kingly he came. Her chambers Of the east
She drap'd with crimson and with gold,
And pour'd her pure jry-wines
For him the poet-sourd.
For him her anthem rolrd,
From the storm-wind among the winter pines,
Down to the slonderest note
OF a love-warble from the linnet's throat.
But when begins
The array for battle, and the trumpet blows.
king must leave the feast aud lead the fight
And with its mortal foes
Grim gathering hosts OF sorrow and Of sins
Each human soul must close.
And fame her trumpet blew
Before him; wrapp'd himin her purple state;
And made him mark for all the shafts of fate
That hcnccforth round him few
Though he may yield,
Hard-press'd and wounded fall
Forsaken on the aeld:
His regal vestmcnts soud;
His crown of half its jewels spofrd;
He is king for all,
Had he but stood aloofi
Had he arrayed himself in armor proof
Against temptations dartsl
So ycarn the good; so those the world calls wise,
With vain presumptious hearts,
Triumphant moralise.
OF martyr-woe
sacred shadow his memory rests;
Tears have not ceased to aow;
Indignant grief vet strs impetuous breasts,
To thiuk,-above that noble soul brought low,
That wise and soaring spirit foord enslayed--
Thus, thus he had been savedl
Itmight not bel
That heart of harmony
Had been too rudcly rent;
Its silver chords which any hand could wound,
BY no hand could be tuned,
Save by the Maker Of the instrument
It's every string who knew,
And feom profanng touch his heavenly gift wlthdre
Regretful love
His country fain would prove
By grateful honors lavished on his grave;
Would fin redeem her blame
That he so little at her hands claim,
Who unrewarded gave
To her his ife-bought gift ofsong and fame.
Theland he trod
Hath now become place of pilgrimage;
Where dearer are the daisies OF the sod
That could his song engage.
The hoary hawthorn, wreath'd
Above the bank on which his limbs he aung
| While some sweet plant he breathed;
The streams he wander'd near;
The maidens whom he loved the songs he sung;--
AL all are deari
The arch blue eyes
J Arch but for loves Disguise
ofseotands daughters, soften at his rain;
Her hardy sons, sent forth across the main
To drive theploughshare through earth's virgin SC
| Tighten with II their toils
And sister lands have learnd to love the tongue
10 which such songs are sung.
For doth not Song
| To the whole world belong,
Is It not given wherever tears can fall,
| Wherever hearts can melt, or bushes glow,
Or mrth and sadness mngls they aow,
heritage to ALP