| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
| |
| My Hero |
| | | Benjamin Brawley |
| | | | | (To Robert Gould Shaw) |
| |
| |
| FLUSHED with the hope of high desire, | |
| He buckled on his sword, | |
| To dare the rampart ranged with fire, | |
| Or where the thunder roared; | |
| Into the smoke and flame he went, | 5 |
| For God’s great cause to die— | |
| A youth of heaven’s element, | |
| The flower of chivalry. | |
| |
| This was the gallant faith, I trow, | |
| Of which the sages tell; | 10 |
| On such devotion long ago | |
| The benediction fell; | |
| And never nobler martyr burned, | |
| Or braver hero died, | |
| Than he who worldly honor spurned | 15 |
| To serve the Crucified. | |
| |
| And Lancelot and Sir Bedivere | |
| May pass beyond the pale, | |
| And wander over moor and mere | |
| To find the Holy Grail; | 20 |
| But ever yet the prize forsooth | |
| My hero holds in fee; | |
| And he is Blameless Knight in truth, | |
| And Galahad to me. | |
| |
|
|
|
