--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Spencer, Josephine collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 4 published: 1914-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Josephine Spencer, "Washington. A Poem," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 4 (February 1914): 352–353.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1704unse start_page: 352 end_page: 353 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Washington. A Poem r — : — - — ■ — 1 Washington We see his presence in the hloom, we see his shadow in the sere; The lamps of his high deeds illume each dawning day and fading year. No vanished pathways of the Eld, no vistas of the coming Time That his calm face have not beheld-; — son of each christened land and clime, A beacon of uncharted wastes, he stands, an emblem of the light Which dimly plods or, glowing, hastes to lift earth's nations from the Night;— To guide them to the final Goal (whether of seen or hidden ken) Toward which, throughout Time's umpired dole have swept the countless steps of men. For Freedom lit her brightest flame upon the altar of his life; Linked with her elemental name is his, who through a decade's strife Guarded a mighty Nation's birth — dream of the Ages' seers and bards — Wherein the shackled sons of earth might gather up forbidden shards Of Right and Reason in their hands — and, welding with unfearing heart And sight unfettered with old bands of sceptered ruling, build in part A Temple for Life's highest Song, — in its first fulness understood, When He who 'midst the selfish throng lifted the note of Bn. therhood. But clear as rose that silver key in the near season of His life, So faintly breathed its minstrelsy through discords of the Human Strife That hardly had the centuries kept more than an echo of its theme, Though fettered hearts in secret wept at memory of the vanished dream. Yet, still persistent through the years, stifled but true the Echo rang, A butt of Bigots and of Peers — till from the sands of Life there sprang An oasis — an hour apart from all the jaded ways of Time — When first a New World's soundless Mart caught murmurs of the ancient Rhyme — And a new strain — of Freedom — twain born of one Mother — Love; both set To down twin Greeds of Power and Gain with blood of age-long murders wet. And slowly though their cadence came through old-world dissonance which grew To weight the sphere whose glad acclaim was tuned to herald standards new — k A r *t Yet it won volume, and at last through Revolution's sacred din It rose, a conquering trumpet-blast, to usher long-lost visions in. And as a Figure for its flight— a human Emblem of its Lay- It chanted by unquestioned right him who had won its greatest Day. No Emblem else so fitly planned, so nourished by the soil of Chance Or fashioned by Direction's hand to meet the probe of History's lance. For whilst he dwelt, a simple youth, amid the common ways of men, Staunch honor and unswerving truth made him a mark of widening ken. Born, nourished, guarded for the Cause through which his splendid manhood grew — No slip of fate nor aim of laws could pierce his heaven-made armor through Till the high mission was achieved for which the soul of Earth had sighed, A land made free for hearts retrieved, where Liberty might safely bide. When through the tangled wilderness he pushed, a courier in the race Of hostile Powers — met in stress of struggle for the widening space Of western borders — countless ills threatened his pathway; unseen lure Of beast and savage; poisoned rills; sly perils which the swamps immure. But these, nor all the hungry darts which met him in the open fray — Bullets nor balls — nor sullen smarts which his high eminence made prey- Bold treason, nor the lesser stings of comrades' murmurs in the dark, Thick buzzing of those insect wings which gather to a lustrous mark; Outnumbering armies, fortressed hosts, nor bar of turbid river-tide, Could hold the bluster of their boasts against his patient, conquering stride. Serene, undaunted to the end, he gave to Earth its ancient Dream; — Then, simply sought Life's quiet trend, content wit'i Its sequestered beam. Checking the first, impassioned fling of praise and glory which erstwhile 'ri'ed him in vain the Nation's king — he heeded, with a tender smile, The young Republic's clinging hold — even as a father — and in arms As gentle as they had been bold — sheltered its dawning Life from harms. Always his memory must soar above the mark mere glory gave As Father, Friend, Wise Counselor, with heart to love, and hand to save. Josephine Spencer. K= A