| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | June 12 | | Bryant Dead! | | By Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886) |
| | (Died June 12, 1878)
LO! there he lies, our Patriarch Poet, dead! | |
| The solemn angel of eternal peace | |
| Has waved a wand of mystery o’er his head, | |
| Touched his strong heart, and bade his pulses cease. | |
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| Behold in marble quietude he lies! | 5 |
| Pallid and cold, divorced from earthly breath, | |
| With tranquil brow, lax hands, and dreamless eyes, | |
| Yet the closed lips would seem to smile at death. | |
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| Well may they smile; for death, to such as he, | |
| Brings purer freedom, loftier thought and aim; | 10 |
| And, in grand truce with immortality, | |
| Lifts to song’s fadeless heaven his star-like fame! | | | | |
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