To an Athlete Dying Young
The
time you won your town the race
We chaired you
through the market-place;
Man and boy stood
cheering by,
And home we
brought you shoulder-high.
Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we
bring you home,
And set you at
your threshold down,
Townsman of a
stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where
glory does not stay
And early though
the laurel grows
It withers
quicker than the rose.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the
record cut,
And silence
sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has
stopped the ears:
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore
their honors out,
Runners whom
renown outran
And the name died
before the man.
So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on
the sill of shade,
And hold to the
low lintel up
And
still-defended challenge-cup.
And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to
gaze the strengthless dead,
And find
unwithered on its curls
The garland
briefer than a girl's.
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