The Honor Men Poem

James Hay, Jr.

Cavalier Daily

Cavalier Daily

1954-09-16

Cavalier Daily

The Honor Men Poem
The University of Virginia writes her highest degree on the souls of her sons. The parchment page of scholarship—the colored ribbon of a society—the jeweled emblem of a fraternity—the orange symbol of athletic prowess—all these, a year hence, will be at best the momentos of happy hours—like the withered flower a woman presses between the pages of a book for sentiment's sake.
But—
If you live a long, long time, and hold honesty
of conscience above honesty of purse;
And turn aside without ostentation to aid the
weak:
And treasure ideals more than raw ambition;
And track no man to his undeserved hurt;
And pursue no woman to her tears;
And love the beauty of noble musie and mist-
veiled mountains and blossoming valleys and
great monuments—
If you live a long time and keeping the faith in
all these things hour by hour, still see that
the sun gilds your path with real gold and
that the moon floats in dream silver;
Then –
Remembering the purple shadows on the Lawn,
the majesty of the colonnades, and the
dreams of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness; “I have won the honors of Honor. I graduated from Virginia.”
James Hay, Jr., ’03
In 1912 Corks and Curls

Newspaper