(November 6th, 1886)
With speechless lips and solemn tread
They brought the Lawyer-Statesman home:
They laid him with the gather'd dead,
Where rich and poor like brothers come.
How bravely did the stripling climb,
From step to step the rugged hill:
His gaze thro' that benighted time
Fix'd on the far-off beacon still.
He faced the storm that o'er him burst,
With pride to match the proudest born:
He bore unblench'd Detraction's worst, --
Paid blow for blow, and scorn for scorn.
He scaled the summit while the sun
Yet shone upon his conquer'd track:
Nor falter'd till the goal was won,
Nor struggling upward, once look'd back.
But what avails the "pride of place",
Or winged chariot rolling past?
He heeds not now who wins the race,
Alike to him the first or last.
One of the best poems by Sir Henry Parkes.........................
But what avails the pride of place, Or winged chariot rolling past? He heeds not now who wins the race, Alike to him the first or last.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
A profound write with an edge of spirituality and claiming that death is the great agent that makes every one equal. A great classic poem.