The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-07-08
THOUGHTS OF THE PLACE AND TIM

10 thoughts with which their souls expapdsi
So here to-day-these trophies nigh
Our lips no fitting words can reach
The hills around-the grayes--the sky
The silent poem of the eye
surpasses all the arts Of speecbl
To-day q nation meets to build
A nations trophy to the dead.
Who, living, formed her sword and shield
The arms she sadly learned to-wield
When other hope Of peace had fed
And not alone for those who lie .-
In honored graves before US blent
Shall our proud column, broad and high,
Climb upward to the smiling sky,
But be- for all monument
An emblem Of our grief, as well
For Others as for those, we raise;
For those beneath our feet who dwell
And all who in the good cause fell
On other fields, in other trays.
To oil the selfsame love we bear a.l5-
Which here for marble memory strives;
No soldier for wreath would care
Which all true comrades might not share
Brothers In death as In their liyesi -4
On Southern hill-sides, parched and brown,
In tangled swamp, on verdant ridge,
Where pines and broadening oaks look down,
And jasmine weaves its yellow crown,
And trumpet creepers clothe the hedge,
Along the shores Of endless sand,
Beneath the palms of Southern plains. q
Sleep everywhere, hand locked in hand,
The brothers of the gallant band
Who here poured life through throbbins veins
Around the closing eyes of all
Thesame red glories glared and few--
The tossing flags, the bugle-call,
The whistle Of thesngry ball
The elbow touch Of comrades true
The skrmish fire--a scattering spray;
The long, sharp growl of fire by file,
The thickening fury Of the fray
When opening batteries get in play
And the lines form Ger many mile,
The foeman's yell, our answering cheer
Red flashes through the gathering smoke
Swift orders, resonant and clear
Blithe cries from comrades tried and dear,
The shellscream and the sabre stroke;
The rolling fire from left to right,
From right to left we hear its swell;
The headlong charges, swift and bright,
The thckening tumult Of the fight 7r-e
And bursting thunders Of the she'll.
Now closer, denser grows the strife,
And here we yield, and there we gain
The air with hurting missiles rife,
volley for volley, life for life
No time to heed the cries Of pain
Painting as up the hills we charge,
Or down them as we broken roll,
Life never felt SO high, 50 large,
And never Ger so wide margs
In triumph swept the kindlng soul
New raptures waksn in the breast
Amid this hell Of scene and sound
The barking batteries never rest,
And broken foot by horsemen pressed, JL
Still stubbornly contest their ground.
Fresh waves of battle rolling In
To take the place of shattered waves;
Torn lines that 60 more bent and thin
binding cloud, maddening din
Twas thus were filed those very gravesI
Night falls at length with plying vail, 81
moonlit silence deep and fresh;
These upturned features cold and pale.
vainly the chill night dews assail--
For colder than the dews their flesh
And Pickering far through brush and wood .
Gosearching parties, torch In hand
"seize if you can some restand food,
At dawn the fight will be renewed
Sleep on your rms the hushed command
They talk in whispers as they lie
In line-tbese rough and weary men;
"Deado but woundedl" then Sigh;
"No coffee either" "Guess we'll try
To get those two guns back again"
We've five flags to their one ohop
''That bridge twas hot there as we passedn
"The Colonel dead! 1t can't be 50: p
Wounded and badly-that know;
But he kept saddle to the last"
BE sure to send it If fall"
"Any tobacco' Bill, have your"
"A brown haired, blus-eyed, laughing doll-I'
"Good-night, boys, and God keep you ALI"
u What, sound asleept Guess I'll sleep, tool''
ayes, just about this hour they pray
For Dad stop talkngI mass the word 70
And soon as quiet as the CLAW
which thoucands will but be- merit dav
The longarawn s,ybs of s,een ara hard
Oh, rnsnl to whom this sketch. though rude
Calls back some scene of pain and pridsi
Oh, widow hugging close your brood,
Oh, wife with happiness renewed,
rbi. tro,hv ,ha, ,o.dov u. ,oi.a
sbopld he a monpmsn, FIR Al,
And on ,,s sides no ,ior.rd mr..
Cortno a cansror, Ns,;or,. nr.,,a
IT. ,ho.s uho hare h.,o ch.ro0a o. an
=
. But let us all to-day combine
Still other monuments than this to raise;
Here for the Dead we build shrine.