Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1866-03-22
sbe POETICAL. ga
I'm THELANDwHERE WE WERE
~ s8is DREAMING. i.ii

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BIZ D. B. LUCAS, ESQ.,, OF JEFFERSON. III
II 81. lL4k l.fiit-- FiHsiet-, ~
FAN were our visionsi Oh, they were as grand
As ever 6oatcd out of Fancy land;
Children were we IN single faith,
But God.like children, whom, nor death,
Nor threat, nor danger drove from Honor's path,
f..lss 80 In the land where we were dreaming.
Proud were our men, as pride of birth could rem
2 der; i49f
As violets our women pure and tender;
And when they spoke, their voice did thrill
Until at eve, the whip-poor-will,
At morn the mocking-bird, were mute and still
In the land where we were dreaming.
And we had graves that covered more of glory
Than ever taxed traditions ancient story;
And in our dream we wove the thread
OF Ofprinciples for which had bled
And suffered long our own immortal dead
In the land where we were dreaming.
Though in our land we had both bond and free,
Both were content; and so God let them De =
Till envy coveted our land
And those fair fields our valor won,
But little recked we, for we still slept on,
In the land where we were dreaming.
Our sleep grew troubled and our dream grew wild
Red meteors flashed across our Heavens hed;
- Crimson the moon; between the Twins
Barbed arrows fly, and then begins
Such strife as when disorders Chaos reigns
Down from her sun-lit heights smiled Liberty
And waved her cap in sign of Victory,
The world approved, and everywhere
Except where growled the Russian bear,
The GOOD. the brave, the just gave their prayer
In the land where we were dreaming.
We fancied that Government was ours
We challenged place among the worlds great pow
etalked in sleep of Rank Commission,
Until so life-like grew our vision,
That he who dared to doubt, but met derision
In the land where we were dreaming.
We looked on high banner there was seen,
Whose field was blanched and spotlessin its sheen
Chivalry's cross its Union bears,
And vet'rans swearing by the scars
Vowed they would bear it through hundred wars
In the land where we were dreaming.
A hero came amongst us as we slept;.
At first he lowly knelt-then rose and wept;
Then gathering up thousand spears
He swept across the field of Mars;
Then bowed farewell and walked beyond the stars
In the land where We were dreaming.
We looked again another figure still
Gave hope and nerved each individual Will a
Full of grandeur, clothed with power,
Selfpoised, erect, he ruled the hour
With STERN majestic sway-of strength tower
In the land where we were dreaming
As, while great Jove, in bronze, wardcr God,
Gazed eastward from the Forum where ne stoou,
Rome felt herself secure and free,
So /" Richmond's safe" we said, while we
Beheld bronzed Hero-God-like Lee,
In the land where we were dreaming
AS wakes the soldier when the alarum calls
as :, usses the nIothsr w1Ie- has infant falls
As starts the traveller when around
His sleeping couch the fre-bells sound
So woke our nation with a single bound
In the land where we were dreaming
Woe woe is me the startled mother cried
While we have slept our noble sons have died!
Woe! woe is me !! how strange and sad,
That all our glorious visions fled
And left US nothing real but the dead
In the land where we were dreaming.
And are they really dead, our martyred slain?
No dreamersl morn shall bid them rise again
From every vale--from every height
On which they seemed to die for right
Their gallant spirits shall renew the fight
In the land where we were dreaming