O'er the Present proudly striding Like Colossus o'er the wave, And a beacon-light high holding, While the tempests loudly rave: Laying bare in truthful teaching Treach'rous breakers round the bay, That the good old barque of England May in safety sail away: Though the tongue of fiercest Faction In its Folly may deride, Still he stands in lofty learning Like a giant o'er the tide, While the murmuring wavelets passing Far beneath his kingly hand, Looking upward, blindly babble Where they cannot understand. When his country's proudest sceptre He was called upon to sway, Ruled he with a noble purpose That will never pass away: So, the Future, of his striving With its trumpet-tongue shall tell: How he battled for the Bible; How he loved old England well: How his nature, though not faultless (Human nature may not be), Bore the never-dying impress Of life's truest chivalry, How they wrote upon the marble, Where he lay beneath the sod: "Faithfully he served his country," "Truthfully he served his God."
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