| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | March 4 | | To Alexander H. Stephens | | By Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886) |
| | | | Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy. He died on March 4, 1883. |
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LAST of a stalwart time and race gone by, | |
| That simple, stately, God-appointed band, | |
| Who wrought alone to glorify their land, | |
| With lives built high on truth’s eternity, | |
| While placemen plot, while flatterers fawn or lie, | 5 |
| And foul corruptions, wave on wave, expand, | |
| I see thee rise, stainless of heart as hand, | |
| O man of Roman thought and radiant eye! | |
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| Through thy frail form, there burn divinely strong | |
| The antique virtues of a worthier day; | 10 |
| Thy soul is golden, if thy head be gray, | |
| No years can work that lofty nature wrong; | |
| They set to concords of ethereal song | |
| A life grown holier on its heavenward way. | | | |
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