Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-27
The poem by Mr.. Cole was as follows:
A Poets Centenary.
BY Samuel Valentine Cole "A

~ ShIiluSi Iitiilt III" a.
We we're busy people axes rang
And anvils when amid the day S
A r,elody crept master came, and
And charmed the workers. sweetening
all the toll
As .nrphens did. who once. with flute 10
Hellned nightly at the Launching; of the
ship
And in and out among us many E dav
lie went. this singer, with lis happv
strain
Greeted the little children at their plav .
WaT present at the bangin;; OF tho
blessed maidenhool ami manhood .
blessed the birds
His life heat like tue sunshine through
At last he said upon occasion high.
III" light of seventy summers in his
fare
40 Caesar. We who arc about 10 die
Salute YOU" and he said 1t from this
place.
With arel comrades round him who
should al
So soon rcstcre Iife's armor to the wall
Those mer have passed into the Silent
Land
Thor earthly battles ended many 4
chang"
Has crept on us beneath times n1oulding
maud,
And on these scenes with faces new
Tut not on him tha magic Of his art
St'll Ienetrates the citadel Of the heart /,
And whcrc he once has entered to deligb.
And CEecr and strengthen irger II +,
must and will
OFT r;irCllrE with tho voices Of tho NIGHT
Some fragment of his song to haunt us
or to lure to far-ofr realms. and ,1nawares
Scatter in flight an Arab host Of cares
A hundred years how old he would
have been
And yet how young; for, as we turn
his page.
We mark the tErobhfnCs .of \ life within
old az tho world AMI new to evcrv arc
hca'ltv and love and sorrow from such
Uprose the golden fabric OF his dreams.
God sent his singers upon earth" he
What were the earth without them :?
what were life
w" call SO glorious hut games and bread
t'ordid existence or iEnoble strife.
Were there no voices CRYING to tho soul
Nor any vision of life's path and goal :?
Tne truth We need and wait for may at
times
Break suddenly on us like a lannon's
roar.
Eut oftcnor comes In faintest clfn chimes
Blown o'cr the border line from some
dim shore
Or vet. as blind and helpless rs we are.
1t comes in perfect stiffness like star.
Az even invisible nc tho air that rolls.
Stand great unproven truths which. as
pn must.
We build our lives upon, and stake our
souls.
Outwoighinr knowledge with our hope
Truths which keen Science. labor as
she NAV,
Can never explain and newell explain
away
Science may guide Ger many Hill and
plair.
Revealing how the pathways meet and
BIT for life's painless and unchartered
rair.
Wheroon our =rrest pilot is tho heart
We need thoir vi~ion unto whom, belong
The mystery and the mastery of song
Listen behold, believe, are tones that
The poets signs and symbols mani
Those. fables ~ the aver-singinE bill.
Isles of the BIest. cities with streets OF
streams.
And all the Fl Doradoes of our dreams
For song. indeed. is truth full-winged
with power
a faithful voice that calls us from affair
An impulse from, some land where every
hour
Gods truth reigns sovereign: some
hope-brinCinC star:
Some sword that stirs the spirit. as were
stirred
The Prophets and Apostles Of the Word,
TIE noCts 20 before MS: they discern
Across these spaces Of lifc's gloom AMI
glow.
The great ideals that ever live and burn