Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-11-02

The War-gaZe hlllng all his dark romantic eye;
By eve the fount far up some Hampshire dell
Laughed in the snowy fetlock OIL steed
But off the edge of War the Ashby fell
Dropt live STAR and went out with the dead J
Here lie the Twain their epitaph be this
"These Brothers struggling one just cause to
gain,
One Immortality achieved in vain;
And now together sleep in one sweet dream of
peace!
"They are not Deaths! Relnquished all his claim!
Their deeds to Histry, and immortal song,
Their souls to God, their memories to Fame
Their ashes to Virginia belong!
Sleep Heroes with no weight but flowers, sleep
Your Mother, like the Osprey makes her nest
For you with feathers plucked from her own
breast,
Until the trumpet-sound-t Sea-birds wing
the deep!
Vain vain the unequal contest more than vain
Vainly our prayers beseged the Highest throne,
Vainly our blood poured out upon the plain
Against world in arms stood alone
AS some rude hunter from towering oak,
OerlookS the vale, and views the herd below,
Lets fly his darts and lays the leaders low
So fell our foremost by the Fatal Archer's stroke
The struggle DER, no shaft of triumph looms
The laurels of Virginia are but here!
Bound on no temples save these white-browed
tombs,
No victor browning but the Sepulchre
And yet they die or wither nevermore!
But live, while shines, a gem of God, one star
In any crown Of peace or sounds of war
One note and bloom till Memory's self grows
hoarl
Mnfh ink from oft mon toip fLo
Will sprigs of evergreen wait on the gale;
Methinks the Western sun as he declines
Will span with glorys prism all this vale,
An arch of triumph and an arc of peacel ~
Methinks hear the genius of the State
Out on tn impassioned atmosphere relate
In tones oflyrc pathos: burning words like these;
''Sons of brave sires thrice-wecome to your Moth
ers breast?
gave blessing when We rallied to nv aid
And now l bid my daughters welcome you to rest
Beneath the sod Of peace in fond -embow ring
shade;
Daughters for you they We made a sacrifice ofwoe,
A holocaust Of glory which the golden strings
Ofharps shall sound, when sounding out d.
vinest things
Which Heaven rewards above, or men achieve be-
low -@
''Children! the chord is touched which thrills nv
. inmost soul sg.. ..
My own young lions sent to war, return no
more
All where are they, when thro' the forests depths
Dead on the field, amid the battles thunder
roar! ..
They vowed to do their duty-well they kept their
plight
Thrice-welcome war-scarred vet rams who alive
return
4:11
Tho conquered, victors still, tho not triumphant
right
"Ah, yes my martyrs slain, my prophets too are
gone,
Strange factions close me n-Dut never tire
mid all
Ye Braves ! these fallen forms shall up again and
Thro' all the coming years made glorious BY
their fall Fiji III
The stars shall rise that shine into the souls of
men ,f. .*.s
And in mysterious junction dominate the earth
To Tighten Factions grave, and herald Free
W dom's birth
The suns that blazon liberty shall burn again -
Thus speaks the Grand Old Mother of us all,
Her voice still reaching for tn ETHEREAL spheres,
Her heart on fire, battle flame her soul,
Her eyes ablaze like the eternal stars,
We hearing, listen to the voice Of Heaven,
From out these clouds of tyranny and shame,
Look up, take heart and name the name
Of some far Sabbath which to Liberty is given
A day shall come perchance-a morn shall dawn
Shall give each grave tongue, to ev'ry tongue
A text, to ev'ry text a sacristan,
An altar, and priest from whom the young,
Shall learn the sermons of these darling dead,
To teach them how to dare and do, or die,
To save the fruits Of peace or vainly try
But failing, leap to war as groom to bridal bed