Deaf American Poetry: An Anthology

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

Laura C. Redden 53 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet* The mandate, “Go where glory waits,” Was less than naught to him: He sought the souls whose day was dark, Whose eyes, with tears, were dim. As yet his glory rests secure In many a grateful mind, First blessed by him, with knowledge sweet, And linked into its kind. They lay in prison, speechless, poor, Unhearing, thralls of Fate, Until he came, and said “Come out! It is not yet too late!” He came, and lifted up, and spoke; He set them in the sun. The great work goes on and on That was by him begun. And in this bronze he lives again, But more within each heart. To which he said, “Be of good cheer, Let loneliness depart.” We lift the veil, and see how Art Has fixed his likeness there, And placed beside him one whose life He lifted from despair.† * Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787–1851), with Laurent Clerc, founded the first permanent school for the Deaf in America, the American School for the Deaf. † Alice Cogswell (1805–1830) was the first student at the American School for the Deaf. She was the daughter of Mason Fitch Cogswell, who hired Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to learn about education of the Deaf in Europe. Gallaudet returned with Laurent Clerc, a Deaf teacher from the school in Paris. Laura C. Redden 54 She stands there as the type of those To whom he gave his all; Those sorrows touched him till his love Went out beyond recall! Ah, well it was, that little fight Was fostered by the Lord! Ah, well it was, he loved the child And felt her fate was hard! Ah, well it was, he turned himself Unto that speechless woe, Which made the world a lonely road One hundred years ago! Rest here, thou semblance of our Friend, The while the world goes by! Rest here, upon our College green Beneath the bending sky! Remain, and bless the chosen work That found its source in thee— ’Tis through thy love that ye, thy sons, Are happy, strong, and free. Rest here, Father of us all! And when we pass thee by, ’Twill be with bared head and heart, And mutely reverent eye. Thank God, He gave thee unto us To free us from our woe, And put the key into thy hand One hundred years ago. ...