Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1869-04-22
Criminal 2petru.

FUfsWt ohtHuHUOuH LLtFuU.
rB- The following lines were suggested by
visit to the Kernstown battlefield, Oct, 1868:
KERNsTOWN.
Mist hangs upon the mountains brow,
Gloom shadows all the vale below,
And sluggish is the streamlct's flow.
A dull gray sky looks over an,
The whip-poor- will begins TO call
Perchance he dreams It's even's fau.
And dimly doth the straining eye,
The meads and dwellings near descry-
Blue shadows all about them lie.
Athwart the fallow-land below,
The solemn oxen come and go,
With tread mechanical and slow.
The sower hastes to cast the grain.
Before the mists descend in rain
The old-time custom comes again.
Close by a solitary tree,
Bows his head low and heavily,
As if some awful memory
A burden on his heart had cast,
And sapped the vigor of his past
Not long he may withstand the blast.
The drilling rain falls at my feet,
sT;c oh;l1;,o. Nnran,ho,.c 81
The flowers look dull, and none are sweet.
I lean against the old stonewall,
Half hid by weeds and briars tall,
And brush wood SCARED by shell and ball.
| cast mine eyes across the heath,
It's dcsolate and lone as death!
Fog rises like a battle wreath.
Hark. twas shrill and piercing note,
A deep roar from an iron throat;
What sounds are these my ear hath smote
Thrice has the eager fox-hound bayed,
The loud reveille answer made,
The hunters spur across the glade.
l watch them bounding Ger the plain
a vision sweeps before my brain,
It passes but it comes again.
I hear the bugle blast once more,
1 hear the lannon's dreadful rear,
[ see the armed host BEFORE
l hear the masket's sharp report,
I hear the furious chargers snort
A gallant death he seems to court.
l see arrayca one thousand men
I see fash and smoke-and then
l see them swayihg now, as when
\ rough wind breathes on Theat which tries
To grow too rank; bends, falls and dies
They fall, 0, never more to rise
l hear limbs crack and crash Ger head,
I hear them plunge! The ground is red
With blood of dying and of dead.
/ see men lying In q heap,
All stepped in gore, like slaughtered sheep
A sight which makes my flesh to creep,
My blood run cold, my heart grow faint,
I hear wild cries and sad com plant,
1 see grim upturned faces gaunt
Ten thousand lights fash in the air,
Ten thousand awful sounds are there,
And horror stalheth ecerya0here.
The red volcanoes smoke and Ere,
The earthquakes shock and ruin dire,
I see, know their fearful ire.
The battle moves with torrents force,
Close followed by the Pale White Horse,
And scarce does ever check its course.
Now sinks it 'gainst the mountains side,
It's thunders cease, it 9 strength hath died,
Chance shots sparks from it's fiery pride,
Speak once, then silence dead doth reign
Past has the vision from my brain,
", may II never come again
/ turn about and cross the heath,
Still smoking from the battles breath,
But sad and lone and dark as death.
And through the glade, below the hill,
/ hear the murmur of a rill,
Mid dcsolation tuneful still.
Methinks It's sorrow music-clad
For airs most sweet are aye most sad,
As poets say-its flow, not glad,
is constant as that stream Of song,
Which springs from souls whose joysare gone
Who breathe in tune till life has flown.
Lo at my feet, before unseen,
Some plants with leaves of shining green,
And deep red blossoms set between.
alethinks from valor's dust they grow,
His blood, these flowers of crimson glow,
His heart, these leaves cordate-and SO
From darkest, deadliest strife, I see
Come the green bays of victory,
The blood red flowers of Poesy.
a smell of cedar falleth there,
A smell of pine, whose incense rare
Makes odorous all the evening air.
I'm minded of a legend told
By Arab wanderers, how of old,
Sweat from the Saviour's forehead rolled
And fell on Egypt's plain, whence rose
A holy balm, which ever flows,
To soothe and heal all human woes.
And thus I learn how through Gods grace