Name/Title
Memorial Lines Poem by John GawEntry/Object ID
2010.1.2483Description
This is a black on white satin cloth with the poem "Memorial Lines on the death of WILLIAM M'KINLEY" and framed in a bold, thick black border. It is 27 stanzas long, 4 lines of text in each stanza, three cloumns wide, and written by John Gaw, Marquis Street, Newtownards.
A picture of McKinley is located at the upper right corner. The back is plain.
The poem reads as follows:
Memorial £ines
ON THE DEATH OF
WILLIAM M'KINLEY,
[two straight lines of demarcation appear here]
President of America,
Who was born in Niles, Ohio, 29th January, 1843, and was shot by
Jean Franz Czolgosy at Buffalo, on, 6th September, and died
14th September, and was interred in Canton, Ohio, on Thursday,
19th September, 1901,
IN HIS 59TH YEAR.
[one line of demarcation appears here]
Now a wave of grief swells on high,
Far o'er the western shore,
Where agonising sorrows sigh
M'Kinley is no more.
For by the hands of cruel man
He fills a martyr's grave;
Of all the men the world has seen
The truest of the brave.
This wave of sorrow now extends
On every rolling tide;
To every land and every heart
Far o'er the oceans wide.
And heavy still it weighs on us,
Near to M'Kinley's stone;
For on the shores of Dervock here
Still stands his fathers' home.
And in the dawning of this year,
When we were stricken low,
And mourning our gracious Queen,
He sigh'd with us in woe.
So let us join with them in grief,
They are our dearest friends;
King Edward in his grief sincere
Deep mourning recommends.
His court is rob'd with mourning weeds,
The queen in mourning garbs;
But we who are of lesser note
May join with sighing bards.
And bear the mournful wave along,
Far as the oceans roll,
Till every heart and every tongue
Will sigh from pole to pole.
And in a universe roll
Our tears in torrents fall,
We'll kneel before Emmanuel's throne
And sigh both great and small.
And sigh for his frail wife so true,
Who loves her spouse so well ;
To weigh the anguish of her soul
No mortal now can tell.
We sigh.for all the States in one,
And every weeping home;
We sigh with all mankind below
A universal moan.
And to the God whom all adore,
In hope and mingling fear,
We prayed hard his life to spare
And serve his country dear.
But while we cried in deepest pain,
And sighed o'er the seas,
The icy hand of silent death
His struggling soul relieves.
Thus cruel fate deceived us all,
Our trusting hope betrayed,
For he has passed away from earth,
And with his fathers laid.
No more to beat responsive throbs
With love that's ever true,
For he has sigh'd a long farewell,
His last farewell adieu.
A brilliant heart of sympathy,
A soul of boundless love,
Has left the cares of worldly strife
To wear a crown above.
The stars now wear their mourning weeds
In sorrow for their dead,
And all the stripes that shone so fair
Droop lowly o'er his head.
And mournful news now glide's along
To all the distant shores,
Till every heart and every soul
M'Kinley's fate deplores.
And while deep anguish weighs them down,
And mournful cadence roll,
Oh, may the balm that's from above
Soothe every bleeding soul.
And bless, O Lord, his mourning wife,
Who is so frail and fair;
Endow her with a love divine,
Oh, hear a nation's prayer.
Like dew upon the morning rose,
And spray upon the blade,
Their sighs and tears forever flow
Warm o'er his silent bed.
And murmuring bells are tolling
His passing on from earth,
And with man and nature sighing,
Their chieftain still in death.
Like murmuring breezes moaning,
In sobbing sighs they stray;
Or Charon's wandering spirits
Murmuring far away.
He parted with his sighing wife,
So loving and so frail,
And looking round with mournful eyes,
And visage calm and pale;
And feeling that the end was nigh,
The last of all his hours,
" Good-bye to all, to aH good-bye,
It is God's way, not ours."
And whispering to himself he said,
"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
E'en though it be a cross I bear,
Thy will be done on me."
The changing scenes are passing now,
I see Emmanuel's shore,
Now I glide in the haven of rest
Where partings are no more.
JOHN GAW, Marquis Street, Newtownards.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]Collection
BechtelAcquisition
Accession
2010.1Source or Donor
Mr. BechtelAcquisition Method
Gift/PurchaseCredit Line
BECHTEL