Page:The Statues in the Block and Other Poems (1881).djvu/115

Then they bend again, and with one set mind
They raise the dead and the wounded raise
In their loving arms with words of praise
And tender grief for the torturing wounds.
One backward step with a burdened tread—
They bear toward the precipice wounded and dead—
Then they turned on the cliff to front the guard
With faces like men that have died in fight;
Their brows were raised as if proud reward
Were theirs, and their eyes had a victor's light.

They spoke not a word, but stood sublime
In their sombre strength, and the watchers saw
That they smiled as they looked, and their words were heard
As they spoke to the dying a loving word.

They were Men at last—they knew naught of crime;
They were masters and makers of life and law.
They turned from the guard that quailed and shrank