To Thomas Bailey Aldrich

THOMAS BAILEY ALDHICH

BORN NOVEMBER 11, 1836 DIED MARCH 19, 1907

EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY 1881-1890

FOREVER young is that immortal throng
Whose golden rhymes to-day our lips recite:
Like stars they shine and sing across the night,
Unchanged and changeless through the ages long.
In Fancy’s realm, upon foundations strong
They built their monuments of beauty bright,
Creating out of dreams for our delight
Arches and domes and pinnacles of Song.
They know not age; no, nor dost thou, in truth,
For thou with laurels green on locks of gold
Hast reached but now the poet’s dewy prime.
A thousand years! O Song-enamored Youth,
Thy lyric castles never shall grow old,
Nor ruin mar their airy walls of rhyme!

FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN

In The Atlantic Monthly, June, 1906