Page:The Statues in the Block and Other Poems (1881).djvu/29

Rh The preachers said it was worthless quite; The schoolmen claimed it was theirs to write; But the songs were spared, though they added nought To the profit and praise the people sought, That was wafted at last from distant climes; And the townsmen said: "To remotest times We shall send our name and our greatness down!"

The boast came true; but the famous town Had a lesson to learn when all was told: The nations that honored cared nought for its gold, Its skill they exceeded an hundred-fold; It had only been one of a thousand more, Had the songs of the Poet been lost to its store.

Then the rich men and tradesmen and schoolmen said They had never derided, but praised instead; And they boast of the Poet their town has bred.