| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 405. On the Defeat of a Great Man |
| | | By William Wilberforce |
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| FALLEN? How fallen? States and empires fall; | |
| O’er towers and rock-built walls, | |
| And perished nations, floods to tempests call | |
| With hollow sound along the sea of time: | |
| The great man never falls. | 5 |
| He lives, he towers aloft, he stands sublime: | |
| They fall who give him not | |
| The honor here that suits his future name,— | |
| They die and are forgot. | |
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| O Giant loud and blind! the great man’s fame | 10 |
| Is his own shadow, and not cast by thee,— | |
| A shadow that shall grow | |
| As down the heaven of time the sun descends, | |
| And on the world shall throw | |
| His god-like image, till it sinks where blends | 15 |
| Time’s dim horizon with Eternity. | |
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