Look South!--where, in its coat of gray, The broad Potomac creeps away, And seeks the blue of distant skies; But pauses where the great chief lies Within his humble, hallowed tomb, Amid Mount Vernon's deathless bloom. As glides this stream, great corse, past thee, First to the bay, and then the sea, So flowed thy life to rural rest, Ere thou wast Heaven's eternal guest. Oh strong, high man! whose patriot heart Climbed from all common greeds apart; To whom men's selfish ways were small, As from this tower, serenely tall (Built that all years thy fame may know), Men look while creeping there below! How weak was power to thy clear gaze, Builder of nations joined in one, Kindler of splendors still to blaze, Finder of glories just begun! Live on, great sleeper! as this stone, Highest from earth that man has known, So shall be ranked thy solid worth, Highest of heroes on the earth! Happy, secure, and cherished name, Love is the pillar of thy fame; Thy praise comes from each patriot's mouth, Warm as the sunbeams of the South! * * * * * Look East! The Nation's castle walls Spread out in massive beauty now; Their lofty dome and pictured halls In homage to this summit bow. Oh, well that from these palaced lands The marble spire obeisance win; But for the one for whom it stands, This chieftain-town had never been! Yon plot, so full of brain and will, Had staid a bleak and lonely hill! If at five thousand dizzy feet This shaft the whirling clouds could meet, Until our gaze for miles, might be, To the uncrowned but royal sea, 'Twere not too much of honor then, To grant our crownless king of men. You who the Nation's laws indite, Look to this summit's honest white, Where, throned on walls that must endure, Pure fame entreats you to be pure; Until our glory be increased, Like sunbeams from the dazzling East! * * * * *