Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-07-05

IT. law o,,r r,ai5ens Gathered here to strew
The earlv flowers upon the soldiers graves,
In their sweet custom and at early morn,
Hitber thev came with blossoms, buds and leaves,
Aud earnest faces fairer than the flowers.
No grave has been fOrgOtten-all are dressed,
The simple soldier from the distant state
Is loved and hOnOred, though pefchance III
And where he sleeps is beautiful with bloom,
One stayed little when the rest were gone gone
Beside a grave. Quite motionless she stood
Until the paths grew dim, then turned away
And twilight gathers over HoHyWoo9'
The sun goes down behind a bank oL GiJ Giou1
And dashCs all the stormy west WITH pIoou'
AS dies q hero in Il broken cause.
When pouring out his wasted lie, ne leaFeS
The land he loved to darkness ana oeleaC'
Far down below hear the river rush,
And standing i'll this city OF the dead
The voice of waters seem a human cry
That rises from the breadth OF ali the laho
of shivercd henrt-stOnes and OF broken heaflS'
The CITY. growing sombre in the dusk,
Was lit with spendor forty months aGone,
When AL our best and braVest 6athefeo tlere'
A nations fortress and her cap!tal.
IT, Iona streets trembled with the tramp OF
And ranlr with shouting and with artial strains;
And ur the glancing river came the booln
OF mighty guns that held fleet at bay;
Rnt sorrow came upon her, and defeat,
She sank in ashes, and people nope
en-, Sno Ell 1it1, her: and her glory passed sway,
Her arms we're overthrown, her flag was torn,
Hor Children bent their heads beneath the yoke
In bitter silence; and her chosen CLlleI
Was fettcred in the fortress by the sea-
q rapid river with the mighty voice,
DO ttIro11rh thv hills and wear away the rocks
Even as people wear away the hears
In thinking on their glory ana theIl I'LL.
But. O. the spirit Of the first campaigns
O davs OF life and motion!
From Rio Grande to the chesapeake
I IL AITCr1
The wild veil rising from the trampnng chaISe
Tore through the ragged riffs Of battle smoke
| And rose above the thunder OF the guns,
| And as a great wave on the open sea-,
! That strikes q blow and leaves wreck behind,
| They sweep along Il living surge OF strength
| With tempest and crest OF bayohet.
| God smiled at first, then turned his lace asloe
! And hope, that glittered like sunlIt sword, 49,
| Was quenched III gloom ana 1heS siiio'e 'ii0
That rose. with strength renewed, from each de-
TIL broken bv their victories, they-fen,
For ever thin and thinner grew the ranks
| The weary march, the hungry blvouac,
| The scantv blanket wet with sleet
The sleeDiess outpost listlessness of camp,
The longing for the loved at home-all these
Far more than wasting battle, wasted lheM , .
Until their strength was spent-noW 10" IheN
And never more upon Virginia hills
| Shall thrill the onset Of the Southern Ines,
The men that bore the bayonet and blade
Shall bear them now no more;
But' Oh to think how bright and swift the!
| were,
And now how cold and still!
O. rushing river, thou at least art free
And tit to sing soldiers requiem,
Deep-tOned and tremulous-the dlrge or men
That once were tameless as thy winter flood.
When once again we stand erect and free
And we NAV write truthful eptaph-
A nation utterng its grief in stone
Shall pile aloft stately monument,
Not tliat their fame has need of sculptured urn
For they have lived such lives and wrought sucf
deeds
As venal history cannot lie away.
Till then shall scattered roses deck their graves
And woman's tear shall be their epltaph
O. river, though they moulder in the dust
Let them not perish from our hearts-speak on
And fill us with their rushing energy,
That as the gathered freshets OF the spring
Rurst upward through the shackles OF the ice,
So we at last may dash our fettera of
For until then, those men have died IN VAN.