Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1874-05-28
COVER THEM OVER.

COVER THEM OVER.
The following poem was written by Lieut.
WILL N. CARLETON, the poet OF Hillsdale
Michigan, for Decoration Day:
Cover them over with beautiful flowers,
Deck them with garlands, those brothers o.
ours,
Lying SO silent, by night and by day,
Sleeping the years Of their manhood away.
Years they had marked for the joys OF tn G
brave,
Years they must waste in the moulderin 9
grave.
All the bright laurels they waited to bloom
Fell from their hopes when they fell to the
tomb.
Give them the need they won in the past,
Give them the honors their future forecast,
Give them the chaplets they won in the strife
Give them the laurels they lost with their life
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent, husband, brother and lover!
Crown in your hearts those dead heroes Of
ours,
And cover them over with beautin ufowers.
Cover the faces that motionless lie,
Shut from the blue Of the glorious sky.
Faces once decked with the smiles of the gay
Faces now marked with the frown Of decay,
Ewes that looked friendship and love to your
own,
Lips that the thoughts of affection made
known,
Brows you have soothed in the hour of dis.
tress,
Cheeks you have frightened by tender caress.
Oh! how they cleaned at the nations first
CRY!
Oh. how they sire amed when they bade you
goodby!
Oh! how they glowed in the battles fierce
fame!
Oh! how they paled when the death angel
came.
Cover them over, oh! cover them over,
Parent, husband, brother and lover.
Kiss in your hearts those dead heroes Of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover their hands that are lying untried,
Crossed by the bosom and low by the side
Hands to you, mother, in infancy thrown,
Hands to you, father, clasped close in your
own,
Hands where You, sister, when tired and dis
mayed,
Hung for protection, and counsel, and aid;
Hands that you, brother, in loyalty knew,
Hands thai you, wife, wrung in bitter adieu;
Bravely the musket and sabre they bore,
Words Of affection they wrote in their gore,
Grandly they grasped for garland Of light,
Catching the mantle of death darkened night.
Cover them over, oh! cover them over,
Parent, husband. brother and lover;
Crown in your hearts those dead heroes Of
ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the feet, that all weary and torn,
Hither by comrades were tenderly borne,
Feet that have trodden the fowery ways
Close by your own in the old happy days,
Feet that have pressed in life's opening morn.
Roses of pleasure and deaths poisoned thorn;
Swiftly they rushed to the help of the right,
Firmly they stood in the shock of the fight.
Meier shall the enemy's hurrying tramp
Summon them forth from their death guarded
camp,
Meier till the bugle of Gabriel sound,
Will they come out of their couch in the
ground.
Cover them over, yes, cover them over,
Parent, husband, brother and lover!
Rough were the paths of those heroes of ours,
Now cover them over with beautiful flowers
Cover the hearts that have beaten so high,
Beaten with hopes that were doomed but to
die,
Hearts that have burned in the heat OF the
fray,
Hearts that have yearned for the homes far
away.
Hearts that beat high in the charges loud
tramp.
Hearts that low fell in the prisons foul damp.
Once they were swelling with courage and
will;
Now they are lying all pulseless and still,
Once they were glowing with friendship and
love;
Now their great souls have gone soaring
above.
Bravely their blood to the nation they gave!
Then in their bosom they found them grave.
Cover them over, yes, cover them over,
Parent and husband, brother and lover.
Kiss in your heart those dead heroes Of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the thousands who sleep far away
Sleep where their friends cannot finrt them to-
day.
They who, in mountain, and hillside, and dell
Rest where they wearied and lie where they
fell.
Softly the grass blades creep round their re-
pose.
Sweetly above them the wild fiowret blows;
Zephyrs of freedom fly gently o'erhead,
Whispering prayers for the patriot dead.
So in our minds Wen name them once more,