Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/179

MATER CORONATA XII

The lustres of a new-won firmament,

Spanned from the height thine upmost turrets crown,

Relume the course whereon thy thoughts are bent,—

Whereto the words are sent

That bid thy children pass the lineage down.

XIII

Ere yet that rainbowed dome thou seest complete,

Mankind, be sure, shall Earth more nobly share;

No churl his measure shall unduly mete;

And where are set thy feet

Life shall be counted lordlier and more fair.

XIV

Science shall yield new spells for man to know,

And bid thee consecrate to mortal weal

All that her henchmen in thy gates bestow;

Nor lofty then, nor low,

Save to his race each ministrant is leal.

XV

Thine be it still the undying antique speech,

The grove's high thought, the wing'd Hellenic lyre,

Unvexed of soul thy acolytes to teach,—

So shall they also reach

Their lamps, and light them at a quenchless fire;

XVI

And wield the trebly-welded English tongue,

Their vantage by inheritance divine,

Invincible the laurelled lists among

Wherein the bards have sung

Or sages deathless made the lettered line;

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