John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Poems Subjective and ReminiscentMy Triumph
T
On woods that dream of bloom,
And over purpling vines,
The low sun fainter shines.
The hazel’s gold is paling;
Yet overhead more near
The eternal stars appear!
Insures the future’s good,
And for the things I see
I trust the things to be;
And the long days of God,
My feet shall still be led,
My heart be comforted.
O dear ones gone above me!
Careless of other fame,
I leave to you my name.
Save it from evil phrases:
Why, when dear lips that spake it
Are dumb, should strangers wake it?
I better know than all
How little I have gained,
How vast the unattained.
Let life be banned or sainted:
Deeper than written scroll
The colors of the soul.
My songs that found no tongue;
Nobler than any fact
My wish that failed of act.
Others shall right the wrong,—
Finish what I begin,
And all I fail of win.
Mine or another’s day,
So the right word be said
And life the sweeter made?
Hail to the brave light-bringers!
Forward I reach and share
All that they sing and dare.
A glory shines before me
Of what mankind shall be,—
Pure, generous, brave, and free.
Diviner but still human,
Solving the riddle old,
Shaping the Age of Gold!
And equal-handed labor;
The richer life, where beauty
Walks hand in hand with duty.
The joy of unborn peoples!
Sound, trumpets far off blown,
Your triumph is my own!
I keep the festival,
Fore-reach the good to be,
And share the victory.
I join the great march onward,
And take, by faith, while living,
My freehold of thanksgiving.