James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
October 2To the Memory of Channing
By Anne Charlotte Lynch (18151891)
T
To stand the watchmen on the outer wall,
Upon whose souls the beams of truth first fall;
They who reveal the ideal, the unattained,
And to their age, in stirring tones and high,
Speak out for God, truth, man, and liberty—
Such prophets, do they die?
The landmarks of their age,
High-priests, kings of the realm of mind, are they,
A realm unbounded as posterity;
The hopeful future is their heritage;
Their words of truth, of love, and faith sublime,
To a dark world of doubt, despair, and crime,
Re-echo through all time.
Thou, o’er whose tomb the requiem soundeth still,
Thou from whose lips the silvery tones yet thrill
In many a bosom, waking life divine;
And since thy Master to the world gave token
That for Love’s faith the creed of fear was broken,
None higher have been spoken.
Ages agone, like thee
The famèd Greek with kindling aspect stood,
And blent his eloquence with wind and flood,
By the blue waters of the Ægean sea;
But he heard not their everlasting hymn:
His lofty soul with Error’s cloud was dim,
And thy great teachers spake not unto him.