Classic Poem

( ST. MARK'S IN SIXTH STREET, MINNEAPOLIS )

Men vanish and their monuments are vain,
Receding with them in the dreamful air;
And thou, dear house of song and heartening prayer,
Soon only in sweet reverie shalt remain
To us who sought thy peace and felt a strain
Of harmony divine dissolve earth's care;
From us who miss thee on thy thoroughfare,
Thou shalt rich alms of golden memory gain!
But we who loved thee pass. What shall abide
To thy long ministry a memorial
When we, too, shall have vanished? Some deep trace
Along our streets of worthier civic pride!
Some prompter heartleap to the country's call!
Some broader love toward all our toiling race!