Dromo's Den

[ Dromo's Den ]

Joseph Seamon Cotter

O eloquent and caustic sage!

Thy long and rugged pilgrimage

    To glory's shrine has ended;

And thou hast passed the inner door,

And proved thy fitness o'er and o'er,

    And to the dome ascended.

In speaking of thy noble life

One needs must think upon the strife

    That long and sternly faced it;

But since those times have flitted by,

Just let the useless relic die

    With passions that embraced it.

There is no evil known to man

But what, if wise enough, he can

    Grow stronger in the bearing,

And so the ills we often scorn

May be of heavenly wisdom born

    To aid our onward faring.

Howe'er this be, just fame has set

Her jewels in thy coronet

    So firmly that the ages

To come will ever honor thee

And place thy name in company

    With patriots and sages.

Now thou art gone, the little men

Of fluent tounge and trashy pen

    Will strive to imitate thee;

And when they find they haven't sense

Enough to make a fair pretense,

    They'll turn and underrate thee.

Joseph S. Cotter, Links of Friendship