Page:Poems Argent.djvu/124

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112
POEMS.
The whole world gives thee for thine own true worth,
Thy sacrifice of self at suffering's shrine.
Half human, more divine thy name shall stand,
Woven in gold to stretch from land to land.

        Hero and saint!
Moving in solemn grandeur through the isle
Of deathly sickness crowned by lulling seas,
A sky that wears a sweet alluring smile
Caught from the shores of some Hesperides.
For nature in her fairest garb of light
Decks the bright land that groans beneath the blight.

        Hero and saint!
In that thou ministered and gave thy best
To each poor leper that had need of thee,
Who loved thee for the word that spoke of rest
Beyond the margin of time's surging sea.
Gladly thy life was given as His of old,
Gladly laid down, the shepherd for his fold.

        Hero and saint!
Thy spirit, like Elijah's mantle, falls
On others following in thy steps below,
And 'cross far shores thy voice persuasive calls
For other helpers that the seed may grow,
Which thou first scattered lavishly and free
In the loved cause that found its head in thee.