Page:Poems Curwen.djvu/107

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william ewart gladstone.
99

IN MEMORIAM.


The Call.
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.

It came in the sweet hushed silence
Of dawn, on Ascension Day.
Heralded by the rising sun
Came a host in bright array,
Messengers from the King of Kings,
To the statesman, old and grey.

And he rose without a tremor,
And approached the silent gate,
For the call had come to "enter,"
And he could no longer wait,
Though he left the nation mourning
And his sweet wife desolate.

With unfaltering faith he entered,
For the lamp of Faith he bore;
Passed through shadows into sunlight,
Entered life through death's dark door.
O, the human love behind him!
O, the Love Divine before!