Classic Poem

Like to sweet perfume, that on all the air
Is blown on every breeze, and greets the sense
Of every passer, without recompense,
While yet the flowers are hid, none knoweth where,—
Though right well knowing they are fresh and rare,—
Because some high wall doth their beauty fence
From off the world's highway, in thickets dense,
That seek to cover what the winds declare,—
So is the atmosphere we breathe to-day,
Of liberty and goodness, filled with life
For common lungs to drink,—they know not why,—
Because of unknown heroes, who alway,
Although unseen, stand firm in noble strife,
And know, for truth, both how to live and die.