Oliver Wendell Holmes - Hymn For The Celebration At The Laying Of The Cornerstone Of Harvard Memorial Hall, Cambridge, October 6, 1870

NOT with the anguish of hearts that are breaking <br />Come we as mourners to weep for our dead; <br />Grief in our breasts has grown weary of aching, <br />Green is the turf where our tears we have shed. <br /> <br />While o'er their marbles the mosses are creeping, <br />Stealing each name and its legend away, <br />Give their proud story to Memory's keeping, <br />Shrined in the temple we hallow to-day. <br /> <br />Hushed are their battle-fields, ended their marches, <br />Deaf are their ears to the drum-beat of morn,-- <br /> <br />Rise from the sod, ye fair columns and arches <br />Tell their bright deeds to the ages unborn! <br /> <br />Emblem and legend may fade from the portal, <br />Keystone may crumble and pillar may fall; <br />They were the builders whose work is immortal, <br />Crowned with the dome that is over us all!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-for-the-celebration-at-the-laying-of-the-cornerstone-of-harvard-memorial-hall-cambridge-october-6-1870/