I. On The Chivalry Of The Present Time

AH! foolish souls and false! Who loudly cried
"True chivalry no longer breathes in time."
Look round us now; how wondrous, how sublime
The heroic lives we witness; far and wide,
Stern vows by sterner deeds are justified;
Self abnegation, calmness, courage, power,
Sway with a rule august, our stormy hour,
Wherein the loftiest hearts have wrought and died--
Wrought grandly, and died smiling. Thus, oh God,
From tears, and blood, and anguish, thou hast brought
The ennobling act, the faith-sustaining thought--
'Till in the marvellous present, one may see
A mighty stage, by knight and patriots trod,
Who had not shunned earth's haughtiest chivalry.