Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-01-09
For the eallipeli. Journal. ]
THE wAHDERER BIRD.


Irtood on the oceans rock bound shore.
And list to the angry waters roar.
As the wind-swept surRes dashed along
As if moaning requiem Ger the throne
OF countless dead who lie buried there
RarrIefs bold and the youthful fair, n
As / gazed o'er the beundless expanse of sea,
A bird came flying DER the watery lea;
His broad spread pinions Tapping wide,
Dropped vearily over the foaming tide,
And faint light cleaned in his fading eye
As he scared away from his home in the sky.
"Brave bird of the thunder-clOud, whittier
away - q
When the sunlight over the billovs play,
And mountains zpresr their lofty heads,
And bright rivers roll DER their sandy beds,
Where Niaeara's awful thunders are heard,
Where, o, where art thou wandering, birdf'
Then answered that bird in sorrowful tone:
~Oier mountains and forests and seas have
flown, -.
With Daught to guide ny long weary fight.
Save the clouds by day and the stars by night,
To seek fit place for the child OF the sky
To droop his proud wings and in peace to die.
"There was time when nation grand
Spread far away from the Atlantie's strand,
To the distant shores of the Southern sea,
And the sun shone bright on people free
From the ice-bound North to the foweYy
land
OF the sunny south-a mrghty band.
"Fair cities in splendor and triumph shone
Along the bright streams of the temperate
zone;
The wealth of ages had gathered there,
nd a'o fbokvn l..
Whose glories were ever the poets theme,
The Goddess of Liberty reigned supreme.
+When that heaven-born queen Of the Western
world
Her glorious standard first unfurled,
She striped its pure celestial dye
With streakings of crimson Just torn from the
sky;
And next cloud of cerulean blue
Thick studded with stars of siIvery hue.
"Then the eagle she called from his cloud
bathed throne,
Where long he had reigned in grandeur alone;
The shield Of power she placed on his breast,
And her ensign she gave to the bird of the
West,
To guard and protect it with honor's bright
SO wand,
From the slight of the traitor or enemy's hand.
"And long has that beauteous banner un-
furled I
Ger the soil of our Union, the pride of the
world.
And the angels of peace and prosperity
E1 smiled
On the laws of that nation, unyieldiDg but
mild,
And the North and the South together were
bound
By the ties of affection that twined them
around.
"But 10! dark cloud rises over the land,
And grim War, with Pestilence hand in hand
Stalks over the country oEee peaceful and
blest,
While the watch-wOrd of "Treason" glares on
- his breast,
And the rivers run red with q nations best
ID .f blood,
From the Rocky Range to Atlantic's food.
"The black wings of Rebellion brood over the
And serried armies sink under his death deal
ing hand;
Secession's dark symbol triumphantly waves
O'er our forefather's blood stained graves,
Who died for their country so hardly won,
And the laws that they founded now trampled
upon.
"The stars that cleaned in each bright szure
fold,
Are one by one fading from the banner hold,
And the proud standard unfurls in dishonor
and shame
Ger the land it had guided to glory and fame,
And Its wronged bearer in sorrow and his trust
betrayed,
Wanders homeless. and friendless through for
est and glade"
When the eagle had finished his terrible tale
OF Columbia's lost glory outweighed in the
scale, -l-r
OF political power, the errse Of the land,
And the nag that was torn, disowned, from
his hand; Trre
His last notes in sad, faint accents were heard:
sThere's no place of rest for the wanderer
bird"
-ft . M