| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | Objects Which Influence the Ambitious Nature
IV. Glory and Enduring Fame | | By William Gilmore Simms (1806–1870) |
| | | THUS Glory hath her being! thus she stands | |
| Star-crowned,—a high divinity of woe; | |
| Her temples fill, her columns crown all lands | |
| Where lofty attribute is known below. | |
| For her the smokes ascend, the waters flow, | 5 |
| The grave foregoes his prey, the soul goes free; | |
| The gray rock gives out music; hearthstones grow | |
| To temples at her word; her footprints see | |
| On ruins, that are thus made holiest shrines, | |
| Where Love may win devotion, and the heart | 10 |
| That with the fire of genius inly pines | |
| May find the guidance of a kindred art, | |
| And from the branch of that eternal tree | |
| Pluck fruits at once of death and immortality! | | | | |
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