Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Memorial Hall
By Christopher Pearse Cranch (18131892)A
Round Harvard’s grounds their branches tall,
We greet no walls of statelier grace
Than thine, our proud Memorial Hall.
Whose dappled lights and shadows lie
Along the turf and road, is seen
Thy noble form against the sky.
Or where the woods the hill-tops crown,
The monumental temple gleams,
A landmark to each neighboring town.
A deeper meaning in the pride
Whose stately architecture shows
How Harvard’s children fought and died.
The heroes young and true and brave,
Who gave their memories to these walls,
Their lives to fill the soldier’s grave.
To market in the morn, afar
Beholds the golden sunrise gleam
Upon thee, like a glistening star.
Why stands yon tower so fair and tall;
His sons, perhaps, in battle fell:
For him, too, shines Memorial Hall.
Along the winding Charles, and sees
Across the flats thy glowing sides
Above the elms and willow-trees,
Remembering the heroic aims
Of those who linked their country’s cause
In deathless glory with their names.