George Pope Morris

A Hero of the Revolution

Let not a tear be shed!
  Of grief give not a token,
Although the silver thread
  And golden bowl be broken!
A warrior lived—a Christian died!
Sorrow's forgotten in our pride!

Go, bring his battle-blade,
  His helmet and his plume!
And be his trophies laid
  Beside him in the tomb,
Where files of time-marked veterans come
With martial tramp and muffled drum!

Give to the earth his frame,
  To moulder and decay;
But not his deathless name—
  That can not pass away!
In youth, in manhood, and in age,
He dignified his country's page!

Green be the willow-bough
  Above the swelling mound,
Where sleeps the hero now
  In consecrated ground:
Thy epitaph, O Delavan!
God's noblest work—an honest man!