William H. Herndon

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



There by the window in the old house
Perched on the bluff, overlooking miles of valley,
My days of labor closed, sitting out life's decline,
Day by day did I look in my memory,
As one who gazes in an enchantress' crystal globe,
And I saw the figures of the past,
As if in a pageant glassed by a shining dream,
Move through the incredible sphere of time.
And I saw a man arise from the soil like a fabled giant
And throw himself over a deathless destiny,
Master of great armies, head of the republic,
Bringing together into a dithyramb of recreative song
The epic hopes of a people;
At the same time Vulcan of sovereign fires,
Where imperishable shields and swords were beaten out
From spirits tempered in heaven.
Look in the crystal! See how he hastens on
To the place where his path comes up to the path
Of a child of Plutarch and Shakespeare.
O Lincoln, actor indeed, playing well your part,
And Booth, who strode in a mimic play within the play,
Often and often I saw you,
As the cawing crows winged their way to the wood
Over my house-top at solemn sunsets,
There by my window,
Alone.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
87

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEFGHBIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,071
Words 206
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 26

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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