At General Grant's Tomb.

Afar my loyal spirit stirred         At mention of his name;     Afar in ringing notes I heard         The clarion voice of fame;     So to his tomb, hope long deferred,         With reverent step I came.     The pilgrim muse revivified         A half-forgotten day:     A slow procession, tearful-eyed,         In funeral array,     And from MacGregor's lonely side         A hero borne away.     Here sleeps he now, where long ago         Hath nature raised his mound:     A mighty channel far below,         Divided hills around,     Where countless thousands come and go         As to a shrine renowned.     With awe do strangers' eyes discern         A casket mid the green     Luxuriance of flower and fern;         Airy and cool and clean,     Unchanged from spring to spring's return,         This charnel chamber scene.     His country's weal his care and thought,         Beloved in peace was he;     Magnanimous in war - shall not         The nation grateful be,     And render at his burial spot         A testimonial free?     Oh, let us, ere the days come on         When energy is spent,     To him, the silent soldier gone,         Statesman and President,     On Riverside's majestic lawn         Uprear a monument.