ODE,
Reading edition
ON OCCASION OF JUDGE STORY'S EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL AT THE ODEON.
By Grenville Mellen.
Again—the voice of God! How breaks it round! O'er consecrated sod, With locks unbound, Grief in her marble brow appears And bows amid her veil—in tears!
That mandate from on high— The clarion call, That rung through earth and sky His rayless fall, In accents, "thou shalt die," again Proclaims man's dream of years—how vain!
We veil not in its grave Ambition's brow— It is not o'er the brave We gather now! But one who reach'd man's loftier fate. Good without fault—and nobly great.
A sceptre was his own, Drawn from the sky— He fill'd a holier throne Than royalty: He sat with deathless Justice crown'd, While Truth, like sunlight, flash'd around!
His life to all the earth Proud record bore, Man yet might spring to birth, With angel power! His death, that as the "grass," to-day Robes him in glory—and decay!
Oh! well, with spirit bow'd, Above his bier May a broad empire crowd, With prayer and tear! —His be its requiem—deep and far— A nation's heart his sepulchre!