24
Not Understood
THE TIMARU WRECKS.
1882.
WHO are Earth’s heroes? Who are they that claim
A shrine immortal in their country’s breast,
A niche within the citadel of fame,
Or higher still a home among the blest.
One answers, they are those who in the fight
Win heav’n’s approval and the world’s applause;
The men who die for justice and for right,
The men who bleed for freedom’s holy cause.
Another answers, heroes lead the van
Of peace and progress in the march of mind,
And spread God’s treasures at the feet of man,
And shed the rays of knowledge o’er their kind.
Ay, these and those are heroes, true and brave,
Whose deeds and words are treasured, fond and fast,
Whose memories are untarnished by the grave;
Heroes who build the future on the past,
And raise a stately edifice above
The Gulf of Ages, filled with blood and tears,
A human temple round whose shrine of love,
All men shall gather in the coming years.
But there are other heroes on the earth,
Heroes who often sow but never reap
The Seed of Glory till the Second Birth;
Heroes who often sink and fall asleep
In duty’s arms, unnoticed and unknown;
Heroes who for their fellows nobly die,
Heroes whose dirge is ocean’s solemn moan,
Mingled with orphan’s sob and widow’s sigh;
Such are the heroes whom we honour here,
Men who have passed on to the light beyond;
And those they held in life most true and dear,
Appeal to us for aid shall we respond?
A shrine immortal in their country’s breast,
A niche within the citadel of fame,
Or higher still a home among the blest.
One answers, they are those who in the fight
Win heav’n’s approval and the world’s applause;
The men who die for justice and for right,
The men who bleed for freedom’s holy cause.
Another answers, heroes lead the van
Of peace and progress in the march of mind,
And spread God’s treasures at the feet of man,
And shed the rays of knowledge o’er their kind.
Ay, these and those are heroes, true and brave,
Whose deeds and words are treasured, fond and fast,
Whose memories are untarnished by the grave;
Heroes who build the future on the past,
And raise a stately edifice above
The Gulf of Ages, filled with blood and tears,
A human temple round whose shrine of love,
All men shall gather in the coming years.
But there are other heroes on the earth,
Heroes who often sow but never reap
The Seed of Glory till the Second Birth;
Heroes who often sink and fall asleep
In duty’s arms, unnoticed and unknown;
Heroes who for their fellows nobly die,
Heroes whose dirge is ocean’s solemn moan,
Mingled with orphan’s sob and widow’s sigh;
Such are the heroes whom we honour here,
Men who have passed on to the light beyond;
And those they held in life most true and dear,
Appeal to us for aid shall we respond?
