STRAIGHT to his heart the bullet crushed; | |
| Down from his breast the red blood gushed, | |
| And o’er his face a glory rushed. | |
| |
| A sudden spasm shook his frame, | |
| And in his ears there went and came | 5 |
| A sound as of devouring flame, | |
| |
| Which in a moment ceased, and then | |
| The great light clasped his brows again, | |
| So that they shone like Stephen’s when | |
| |
| Saul stood apart a little space | 10 |
| And shook with shuddering awe to trace | |
| God’s splendors settling o’er his face. | |
| |
| Thus, like a king, erect in pride, | |
| Raising clean hands toward heaven, he cried, | |
| “All hail the Star and Stripes!” and died— | 15 |
| |
| Died grandly. But before he fell, | |
| (O blessedness ineffable!) | |
| Vision apocalyptical | |
| |
| Was granted to him, and his eyes | |
| All radiant with glad surprise | 20 |
| Looked forward through the centuries, | |
| |
| And saw the seeds which sages cast | |
| In the world’s soil in cycles past | |
| Spring up and blossom at the last. | |
| |
| Saw how the souls of men had grown, | 25 |
| And where the scythes of Truth had mown | |
| Clear space for Liberty’s white throne. | |
| |
| Saw how, by sorrow tried and proved, | |
| The blackening stains had been removed | |
| Forever from the land he loved. | 30 |
| |
| Saw Treason crushed and Freedom crowned, | |
| And clamorous Faction, gagged and bound, | |
| Gasping its life out on the ground. | |
| |
| Saw how, across his country’s slopes, | |
| Walked swarming troops of cheerful hopes, | 35 |
| Which evermore to broader scopes | |
| |
| Increased, with power that comprehends | |
| The world’s weal in its own, and bends | |
| Self-needs to large, unselfish ends. | |
| |
| Saw how, throughout the vast extents | 40 |
| Of Earth’s most populous continents, | |
| She dropped such rare heart affluence | |
| |
| That from beyond the utmost seas, | |
| The wondering peoples thronged to seize | |
| Her proffered pure benignities. | 45 |
| |
| Saw how, of all her trebled host | |
| Of widening empires, none might boast | |
| Whose love were best or strength were most, | |
| |
| Because they grew so equal there | |
| Beneath the flag which, debonaire, | 50 |
| Waved joyous in the cleansed air. | |
| |
| With far-off vision gazing clear | |
| Beyond this gloomy atmosphere | |
| Which shuts us in with doubt and fear, | |
| |
| He—marking how here high increase | 55 |
| Ran greatening in perpetual lease | |
| Through balmy years of odorous peace— | |
| |
| Greeted, in one transcendent cry | |
| Of intense passionate ecstasy, | |
| The sight which thrilled him utterly. | 60 |
| |
| Saluting with most proud disdain | |
| Of murder and of mortal pain, | |
| The vision which shall be again! | |
| |
| So, lifted with prophetic pride, | |
| Raised conquering hands toward heaven and cried, | 65 |
| “All hail the Star and Stripes!” and died. | |
| |
