Dead In Sight Of Fame

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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.

© James Whitcomb Riley