| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 518. On a Boy’s First Reading of “King Henry V” |
| | | By Silas Weir Mitchell |
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| WHEN youth was lord of my unchallenged fate, | |
| And time seemed but the vassal of my will, | |
| I entertainëd certain guests of state— | |
| The great of older days, who, faithful still, | |
| Have kept with me the pact my youth had made. | 5 |
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| And I remember how one galleon rare | |
| From the far distance of a time long dead | |
| Came on the wings of a fair-fortuned air, | |
| With sound of martial music heralded, | |
| In blazonry of storied shields arrayed. | 10 |
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| So the Great Harry with high trumpetings, | |
| The wind of victory in her burly sails! | |
| And all her deck with clang of armor rings: | |
| And under-flown the Lily standard trails, | |
| And over-flown the royal Lions ramp. | 15 |
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| The waves she rode are strewn with silent wrecks, | |
| Her proud sea-comrades once; but ever yet | |
| Comes time-defying laughter from her decks, | |
| Where stands the lion-lord Plantagenet, | |
| Large-hearted, merry, king of court and camp. | 20 |
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| Sail on! sail on! The fatal blasts of time | |
| That spared so few, shall thee with joy escort; | |
| And with the stormy thunder of thy rhyme | |
| Shalt thou salute full many a centuried port | |
| With “Ho! for Harry and red Agin-court!” | 25 |
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