A Pinch of Dust
Dublin Core
Title
A Pinch of Dust
Subject
war, military, existentialism
Creator
[Unknown]
Source
http://addison.vt.edu/record=b1775388~S1
Publisher
The entity responsible for making the resource available in its present form, such as a publishing house, a university department, or a corporate entity. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Date
February 1884
Contributor
Kayla McNabb, Joel Sprinkle
Rights
Permission to publish images from The Gray Jacket must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Format
Text
Language
English
Type
poem
Identifier
LD5655.V8 L4, ser.2, v.1, no.1 (February 1884), p.1
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
I read of a king who sat on his throne,
And ruled a nation in regal state;
As great a king as the world has known,
Yet at last he had but a beggar's fate;
For he died, as each and all of us must,
And his royal frame is a pinch of dust.
I read of a warrior of great renown;
From ocean to ocean resounded his name;
With a sweep of his sabre he mowed men down,
And the world cried "bravo!" and this was fame;
But he died, as each and all of us must,
And his sword is idle with red and rust.
There was a lover who loved his love
With all of passion and youthful fire—
Loved with the love of gods above;
With glowing rapture and fond desire.
But he died, as each and all of us must,
And the grave was the goal of his hope and trust,
Out of my reading I gathered this,
As every reader and thinker must:
Power and glory and earthly bliss,
Are nothing more than a pinch of dust.
And ruled a nation in regal state;
As great a king as the world has known,
Yet at last he had but a beggar's fate;
For he died, as each and all of us must,
And his royal frame is a pinch of dust.
I read of a warrior of great renown;
From ocean to ocean resounded his name;
With a sweep of his sabre he mowed men down,
And the world cried "bravo!" and this was fame;
But he died, as each and all of us must,
And his sword is idle with red and rust.
There was a lover who loved his love
With all of passion and youthful fire—
Loved with the love of gods above;
With glowing rapture and fond desire.
But he died, as each and all of us must,
And the grave was the goal of his hope and trust,
Out of my reading I gathered this,
As every reader and thinker must:
Power and glory and earthly bliss,
Are nothing more than a pinch of dust.