Monticello [On Monticello's classic brow]

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Title:     Monticello [On Monticello's classic brow]
Author: James Avis Bartley [More Titles by Bartley]

On Monticello's classic brow,
I stood and gazed around on earth;
And feelings of no common glow,
Within my bosom had their birth.

The glorious memory of the past,
When valor, single-handed, won,
The brightest boon for man at last,
Freedom for every sire and son.

I thought how strangely, wildly rung
That dictum in the world's dull ear,
Breathed with a firm, unfaltering tongue,
"No tyrant's pride shall flourish here."

But, look upon yon humble tomb,
Oh! does it hide some humble one?
Now, part the mountain's leafy bloom,--
Is this the grave of JEFFERSON?

Huge shame confound this long neglect,
That thus o'ershades his resting place,
Who, living, sought to raise, protect,
And fit, this home of Adam's race.

Who guards that most illustrious tomb,
And welcomes there the pilgrim's love?
A stranger to his native soil,
Stands sentinel his grave above.

Virginia! oh! retrieve thy name,
No longer scorn thy source of pride;
Pay double tribute to their fame,
Whose shades so long in vain have sighed.

Rear monuments to tell the world,
The virtues of departed worth,
Till yonder sun in night be hurled,
The glorious heritage of earth.

Then through the ages that succeed,
The hearts shall come from every shore,
To worship where their relics lie,
Whose glorious fame can die no more.

[The end]
James Avis Bartley's poem: Monticello

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