The Poetry Corner

Dead In Sight Of Fame

By James Whitcomb Riley

DIED - Early morning of September 5, 1876, and in the gleaming dawn of "name and fame," Hamilton J. Dunbar. Dead!Dead!Dead! We thought him ours alone; And were so proud to see him tread The rounds of fame, and lift his head Where sunlight ever shone; But now our aching eyes are dim, And look through tears in vain for him. Name!Name!Name! It was his diadem; Nor ever tarnish-taint of shame Could dim its luster - like a flame Reflected in a gem, He wears it blazing on his brow Within the courts of Heaven now. Tears!Tears!Tears! Like dews upon the leaf That bursts at last - from out the years The blossom of a trust appears That blooms above the grief; And mother, brother, wife and child Will see it and be reconciled.