Classic Poem

Perchance some day when we shall see the Whole
We may rejoice that he should thus depart,
With joy incarnate in his radiant soul
And one pure love, untarnished, in his heart;
For we, who near our life's relentless goal,
With tattered banners in our listless hands,
No more, head high, can answer to the Roll:
Our feet have slipped amid the shifting sands
Of standards lowered and illusions lost.
His is eternal dawn, no setting sun,
And we, so passion-driven—tempest-tossed—
May scarce regret his short, glad battle won.
And yet this anguished thought cannot be stilled—
So young, so loving, and so unfulfilled!