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.