Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/205

Changeless change the law that runs
Through the flame-inscribed page,
"World on world and age on age,
Balls of ice and orbs of fire,
What abides when these expire ?
Through slow cycles they revolve,
Yet at last like clouds dissolve.
Jove, Osiris, Brahma pass,
Races wither like the grass.
Must not mortals be as- gods
To embrace such periods ?
Yet at Nature s heart remains
One who waxes not nor wanes.
And our crowning glory still
Is to have conceived his will."

September 26, 1881.
Weep for the martyr! Strew his bier
With the last roses of the year;
Shadow the land with sables; knell
The harsh-tongued, melancholy bell;
Beat the dull muffled drum, and flaunt
The drooping banner; let the chant
Of the deep-throated organ sob—
One voice, one sorrow, one heart-throb,
From land to land, from sea to sea—