Ashland, the Home of Henry Clay

Lulu Clark Markham

The waning sun in one last flare of splendor
Gleams on the ivy-girdled manor house;
The breeze, like Blondel, sings his lyric tender,
Under the locust boughs;
Nun-lilies to each other bow sedately,
And of their virgin visions softly talk;
Ah, do I glimpse a presence, calm and stately,
Move down his favorite walk?

The trees he planted stand in lordly leisure
And guard the acres of his fair demesne.
Where the lush bluegrass spreads its treasure
Of undulating green;
Knee-deep in clover stand the stolid cattle,
And yonder, with his high, patrician head
Upflung as 'mid the red tumult of battle,
Curvets a thoroughbred.

Above the swaying wheat the bobwhite's clamor
Is softened to a mellow harmony;
The elder-blooms gaze through the sunset glamour
In white expectancy;
And circling 'round the elm tree's leafy towers
The redbird dartles like a tongue of flame;
The old walls dream of dead, historic hours,
And one immortal name.

Here, where in twilight mood of solemn musing,
He built his stately edifice of dreams.
His giant brain deliberating, choosing.
And moulding mighty schemes;
Here, where in lighter hours, with friends around him.
He led them captive at his gracious will;
Here, where his fate's tremendous crisis found him,
A presence lingers still.

In the blue distance lies the city storied
That in his tender heart he loved the best.
In whose illustrious renown he gloried —
The "Athens of the West."
How few retain the vision that he cherished.
The light of chivalry that lured him on;
Has his Kentucky's bright ambition perished —
Her ancient glory gone?

His thoughts still move among these whispering
His spirit still this spacious park pervades,
Through each moon-silver night his glory passes —
A star that never fades;
His altruism and his high endeavor,
His loyalty that dwarfs our poor pretense,
And shrined within this tranquil scene forever,
An endless immanence.

Henry Clay (1777-1852) was a lawyer and politician who campaigned three times for the presidency, losing each time. In 1957 he was voted by the Senate as one of the all-time 5 greatest senators. His plantation home at Ashland (where he had 60 slaves) is maintained as an historic museum.