Margaret Junkin Preston
” Home, —bear me home, at last,” —he said,
” And lay me where my dead are lying,
But not while skies are overspread,
And mournful wintry winds are sighing.
” Wait till the royal march of Spring
Carpets your mountain fastness over, —
Till chattering birds are on the wing,
And buzzing bees are in the clover.
” Wait till the laurel bursts its buds,
And creeping ivy flings its graces
About the lichened rocks, and floods
Of sunshine fill the shady places.
” Then, when the sky, the air, the grass,
Sweet Nature all, is glad and tender,
Then bear me through ‘ The Goshen Pass ‘
Amid its flush of May-day splendor.”
So will we bear him ! Human heart
To the warm earth’s drew never nearer,
And never stooped she to impart
Lessons to one who held them dearer.
Stars lit new pages for him ; seas
Revealed the depths their waves were screening
The ebbs gave up their masteries,
The tidal flows confessed their meaning.
Of Ocean paths the tangled clew
He taught the nations to unravel
And mapped the track where safely through
The lightning-footed thought might travel.
And yet unflattered by the store
Of these supremer revelations,
Who bowed more reverently before
The lowliest of earth’s fair creations ?
What sage of all the ages past
Ambered in Plutarch’s limpid story,
Upon the age he served, has cast
A radiance touched with worthier glory ?
His noble living for the ends
God set him (duty underlying
Each thought, word, action) naught transcends
In lustre, save his nobler dying.
Do homage, sky, and air, and grass,
All things he cherished sweet and tender,
As through our gorgeous mountain pass
We bear him in the May-day splendor
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem works as both an elegy and a reflection on what it means to honor someone after death. It begins with a simple request from the speaker to be taken home only when the world has shifted out of winter. The quiet insistence on waiting for spring sets the tone. He does not want his burial to fall under gray skies or cold winds. Instead, he wants to return when the land is full of color, movement, and warmth. The poem ties his memory to the natural world, and it uses this seasonal change to signal renewal rather than sorrow. Even the specific setting of Goshen Pass is treated less like geography and more like a place where nature itself expresses sympathy.
The poem shifts from personal wishes to an extended reflection on the man’s life. The language focuses on his closeness to the natural world. It describes him as someone who never separated himself from the lessons nature offered. His connection to stars, seas, tides, and hidden patterns of the world paints him as a thinker and observer whose understanding was broad but grounded. The reference to Plutarch is used to raise a comparison with historical figures whose virtue was recorded for future ages. The poem suggests that even among such company, the man described here stands out in how he served his time and place.
There is also a subtle sense of duty running through the poem. It doesn’t push grand patriotic language, but it keeps returning to the idea that his actions, decisions, and even the way he died were guided by a sense of responsibility. That approach is typical of war poetry that wants to recognize service without romanticizing conflict. The poem treats his achievements—scientific, exploratory, intellectual—as part of one whole life lived with purpose. It avoids focusing on battlefield moments and instead focuses on character, discipline, and the search for understanding.
By the end, the request for a springtime burial comes back as a communal promise. The natural world is once again brought forward as part of the ceremony. Sky, grass, and air are asked to take part in carrying him home. The May landscape becomes the final tribute, fulfilling the mood he wanted for the journey. The poem’s strength lies in how it keeps the setting, the man’s values, and the act of remembrance tightly linked. It avoids forced sentiment and instead builds a steady picture of respect, making the final image—bearing him through the mountain pass in full spring—feel earned rather than ornamental.