Classic Poem

There's tenfold Lodges in the land,
Than when my days were few;
But none can number such a band,
The wise, the bright, the true,
As stood around me on the night
When first I saw the Mystic L IGHT ,
Full fifty years ago.

There's Brother-love and Brother-aid,
Where'er the Craft is known;
But none like that whose twinings made
The mighty chain that's gone —
Ah, none like that which bound my soul
When first my eyes beheld the goal
Full fifty years ago.

There's emblems green to deck the bed
Of Masons where they rest,
But none like those we used to spread
Upon the Mason's breast,
When, yielding up to death, they fell,
Who'd battled with the monster well.
Full fifty years ago.

Oh, how my heart is kindled now,
When round me meet again
The shadows of the noble few,
Who formed the mystic train
In which my feet were proud to tread,
When through admiring crowds we sped,
Full fifty years ago.

They're fled, that noble train. — they're gone, —
Their last procession's o'er —
And I am left to brood alone,
Ere I, too, leave the shore;
But while I have a grateful tear,
I'll praise the bright ones that were here,
Full fifty years ago.