Esse Quam Videri.

The knightly legend of thy shield betrays
    The moral of thy life; a forecast wise,
    And that large honour that deceit defies,
Inspired thy fathers in the elder days,
Who decked thy scutcheon with that sturdy phrase,
    TO BE RATHER THAN SEEM.    As eve's red skies
    Surpass the morning's rosy prophecies,
Thy life to that proud boast its answer pays.
Scorning thy faith and purpose to defend
    The ever-mutable multitude at last
    Will hail the power they did not comprehend, -
Thy fame will broaden through the centuries;
    As, storm and billowy tumult overpast,
    The moon rules calmly o'er the conquered seas.

John Hay

John Milton Hay was an American statesman and official whose government career stretched over almost half a century. He began as a private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, eventually becoming Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Aside from his political career, Hay was also a poet and writer, remembered for his influence on American literature and foreign policy.

John Hay

The Surrender Of Spain.

John Hay, Simple Poetry

The Sphinx Of The Tuileries.

John Hay, Simple Poetry

The Monks Of Basle.

John Hay, Simple Poetry

The Golden Calf. Translations. After Heine.

John Hay, Simple Poetry

English

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The Hero

"O for a knight like Bayard,
Without reproach or fear;
My light glove on his casque of steel,
My love-knot on his spear!

"O for the white plume floating
Sad Zutphen's field above,
The lion heart in battle,
The woman's heart in love!

"O that man once more were manly,
Woman's pride, and not her scorn
That once more the pale young mother
Dared to boast `a man is born'!

"But, now life's slumberous current
No sun-bowed cascade wakes;
No tall, heroic manhood
The level dulness breaks.

"O for a knight like Bayard,
Without reproach or fear!
My light glove on his casque of steel
My love-knot on his spear!"

Then I said, my own heart throbbing
To the time her proud pulse beat,
"Life hath its regal natures yet,

John Greenleaf Whittier

The Fatal Horse.

Of creatures that to man attend,
    His pastime, or his wealth;
The Horse we cherish as a friend,
    To sickness and to health.

Bless them, who shield a steed from woe.
    By age from toil releas'd!
And hated be the proud, who shew
    No mercy to their beast!

A wretch once doom'd, tho' rich and strong,
    His faithful horse to bleed,
But tell his fate, my moral song,
    For that atrocious deed!

An antient knight, of Kentish race;
    Of his athletic frame
Prone to indulge the passions base,
    Sir Geoffrin his name,

Against a priest indulg'd his rage,
    Who charitably good,
To shield a widow's helpless age,
    His avarice withstood.

With abject choler fierce and hot,
    The knight perforce would...

William Hayley

Worthy The Name Of 'Sir Knight'

Sir Knight of the world's oldest order,
    Sir Knight of the Army of God,
You have crossed the strange mystical border,
    The ground-floor of truth you have trod;
You stand on the typical threshold
    Which leads to the temple above;
Where you come as a stone, and a Christ-chosen one,
    In the Kingdom of Friendship and Love.

As you stand in this new realm of beauty,
    Where each man you meet is your friend,
Think not that your promise of duty
    In hall, or asylum, shall end.
Outside, in the great world of pleasure.
    Beyond in the clamour of trade,
In the battle of life and its coarse daily strife,
    Remember the vows you have made.

Your service, majestic and solemn,
    Your symbols, suggestive and sweet,
Your uniform phala...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

See The Field Of Battle Gleams.

See, the field of battle gleams
Yonward past the tented streams,
There the foe is camping;
By the thirst-assuaging rill,
From the copse behind the hill
Hear his war-steeds champing.

Northern Knights and Southern Sons,
Onward to the gleaming guns!
Now's the hour of battle!
Though his files be ten to one,
Seek the foe from sun to sun,
Where his muskets rattle.

O'er the walls with slaughter wet,
O'er the ball-scarred parapet,
Daring man and missile,
Charge to meet his best or worst,
Where his shrieking bombshells burst
And his bullets whistle.

Roll in waves of living blue,
Pierce the columned centre through,
Fill the world with wonder;
Rush, as with a lion's will,
Where his lightnings flash to kill
And his cann...

A. H. Laidlaw

Chant Royal Of High Virtue

Who lives in suit of armour pent
    And hides himself behind a wall,
For him is not the great event,
    The garland nor the Capitol.
And is God's guerdon less than they?
    Nay, moral man, I tell thee Nay:
Nor shall the flaming forts be won
    By sneaking negatives alone,
By Lenten fast or Ramazàn;
    But by the challenge proudly thrown--
Virtue is that becrowns a Man!

God, in His Palace resident
    Of Bliss, beheld our sinful ball,
And charged His own Son innocent
    Us to redeem from Adam's fall.

"Yet must it be that men Thee slay."
"Yea, tho' it must, must I obey,"
Said Christ; and came, His royal Son,
To die, and dying to atone
    For harlot, thief, and publican.
Read on that rood He died upon--
    Vi...

Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Sir Galahad
My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splinter'd spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel:
They reel, they roll in clanging lists,
And when the tide of combat stands,
Perfume and flowers fall in showers,
That lightly rain from ladies' hands.

How sweet are looks that ladies bend
On whom their favours fall !
For them I battle till the end,
To save from shame and thrall:
But all my heart is drawn above,
My knees are bow'd in crypt and shrine:
I never felt the kiss of love,
Nor maiden's hand in mine.
More bounteous aspects on me beam,
Me mightier...
Alfred Lord Tennyson