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Ode
On the Unveiling of the Memorial Window
Good Friday, April 18th, 1924

Mortalitate relicta vivunt immortalitate induti.

I.
Take down the solemn veil. ..
Now finished is the tale
Of these who were our friends and now are dead.
Theirs is a nobler life
Than the great heat and strife
Through which they passed to death unvanquished
Quiet is theirs, and sleep:
Weep for them, if you weep,
But softly, for there is no calling back
Of them who very brave
Greeting and farewell gave
And set their feet upon the ancient track.
It is not seemly now
To beat the breast and brow:
The irrevocable deed is past and gone—
The burning stab, the shot,
Pain, and the anger hot,
Even as the wind, the rain, the sun that shone.
Yet, for the dead were young,
Straight, and strong-knit, and swung
Beauty a radiant ball at their careless wrist—
Yet it is fit that we Heirs to their legacy
Grieve for the life accomplished so, so missed.
O they were greatly made, Lithely and unafraid,
Lithely and unafraid,
Laughter they had, the sweet thing of the soul,
Hands that might hold the pen
Straitly, and mould us men
Into a nobler image and make us whole.
Now they are dead, are dead,
And no more will the tread
Of their swift feet be heard within the hall
Or passage ways they knew
In happy years, though few—
No more the noise of their familiar call.
The soundless earth is theirs,
Earth, and the bones she bears,
Her sap the striving blood that beats in them :
Immortal, still like her
They live without a stir—
Her wind is their continual requiem.
So, put the veil aside—
They will in peace abide,
page 6 And as the sun pierces the painted glass
We will be proud and say
They went a noble way
To death, and will not be as things that pass.
For enemy and friend
Now have a common end,
And their mixed clay feeds the delightful flower
Upspringing where they fought—
Men who were young and wrought
With hand and brain and met their equal dower.
In sunlit colour bold
He of heroic mould,
Abrupt and strong, the great Crusader shines—
Through all their searchings dim
The spirit as in him
Moved, but they knew their several Palestines.
Now we will think of all
Who lie beneath the pall,
For all gave all their owning, as men deem—
They followed with set lips
Into the last eclipse
The Idea, the old unconquerable dream

II.
Now art thou sanctified, Victoria!
Thou hast seen terrible things, nor been afraid;
Thou hast gone forth like a young queen to battle
Eagerly brave, and aureoled with faith
And gazed with thy clear eyes at chaos grim;
Grievously hast been wounded and faint and bled,
And blind with weeping, binding back thy hair
From off thy fair white brow, hast still fought on
Stroke upon stroke for right, blows hard and keen.
Dreaming the dream and seeing the vision, thou,
With steady foot and arm for ever strong,
Flushed with the battle shock of men.O Maid,
Seeing thee hold thy faith with tightened hand
Like a great banner flung upon the air
And beating like a flame against the sky,
Who would not stand and probe his heart and call
Upon his God for truth?—Truth, trembling thing
Hiding, an outraged girl, from the angry search
Of passionate men.—Yet haply she will shine
In ultimate time a noble queen indeed,
And thou wilt be her very handmaid then ...
Thou shalt endure, Victoria, like the stars
That shine immortal no the blank of night,
Beat by the wind, uncounted, jubilant
Yet these same stars have seen great agonies
Betrayals, heroisms, loves, and hate—
They saw Darius dead wrapt in his cloak,
They saw dead Christ upon the Syrian hill,
They have seen battles and the armed shock
Of nation upon nation, and their end—
Salamis and Gallipoli and Nile.
page 7 They have seen pity trampled and faith shamed,
They have seen honour stained and triumph yet,
Courage and wisdom and great kindliness.
Like these be steadfast, O Victoria!
Thou too hast seen men die upon their day
Like a great burst of music, or the foam
Dashed from the onward-bearing bows of ships,
Spray on the sea. O Maiden, keep thy troth
And shine devote to wisdom all thy years!

III.
It is an evil thing to die—
Yet to die willingly is great:
Doing this, men their death defy—
The guerdon of our manly state.
It is an evil thing to cast
Aside the lovely thoughts of earth,
But doing so, and all being past,
The spirit may find newer birth.
The presences men entertain
In life they leave (though they are sweet)
They enter on the dark inane
And doing thus, are made complete—
Though they have never drunk enough
Of all these things they rise and go,
Putting behind them all the stuff
Of beauty, friendship, love, and so
Are made a memory. And yet,
Impalpable, their sudden touch
Stirs all our careless mind, and wet
Tears are upon our faces ... Much
Is there to do before we say
(Putting aside the outworn tool)
That we have little left to pay,
Their world being swept of knave and fool...
If with the body mind is dust,
Or if their souls come beating back
On strenuous wings, as beings that must
Watch over earth till sudden crack
Of doom end all the strife of man—
Whether they're dead or living now,
Still is injustice left to ban,
There is oppression still to cow.
O ye who walk within the walls
They loved—O living youth, to you,
To you the flaming torch now falls,
Now there is mankind's work to do.
Pity and gentleness were theirs—
Be pitiful and gentle then!
And wisdom born of many cares—
Wisdom be yours, O sons of men!
They and a whole world's dead have died,
Holding a hope, a faith that burned—
Yours is the task and yours the pride
To do the things for which they yearned.

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IV.
Dear hill of many visions, false or true,
Rising above the windy smoking town,
Aloof, yet part of it, be this your crown—
That you have never lacked the will to do
As well as think, the great thing; that to you
Honour and truth have been a woven gown
For wear perpetual; and quick renown
Has never been a wife for men to woo.

You gaze upon the stars and on the sea—
Be mindful of the trust you bear, O hill!
For ever be it yours to strive and give,
Learning the stars' august austerity,
The savour of sea's cleanness; teaching still
The arts by which men know themselves, and live.

J.C.B