The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-05-17
MEMORIAL DAY POETRY.
Cover Them Over.
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Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours;
Lying SO silent, by night and by day,
Sleeping the years OF their manhood away:
Years they had marked for the joys of the brave;
Years they must waste in the sloth of the grave.
All the bright laurels they fought to make bloom
Fell to the earth when they went to the tomb.
Give them the need they have won in the past;
Give them the honors their merits forecast;
Give them the chaplets they won in the strife,
Give them the laures they lost with their life.
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband, and brother, and lover:
Crown in your heart these dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the faces that motionless lie,
Shut from the blue of the glorious sky:
Faces once light with the smiles of the gay
Faces now marred by the frown of decay.
Eyes that beamed friendship and love to your own /;
Lips that sweet thoughts of affection made known /;
Brows you have soothed in the day of distress;
Cheeks you have flushed by the tender caress.
Faces that frightened at wars stirring cry;
Faces that streaued when they bade you goodbye;
Faces that glowed in the battles red flame,
Paling for naught, till the death angel came
Cover them oyer--yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband, and brother, and lover:
Kiss in your hearts these dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers
Cover the hands that are resting halftried,
Crossed on the bosom or low by the side:
Hands to you, mother, in infancy thrown;
Hands that you, father, close hid in your own;
Hands where you, sister, when tried and dismayed,
Hung for protection, and counsel, and aid;
HANGS tnat you, DfObher, 1OT ia1tnIulneSS kneWi
Hands that you, wife, wrung ia bitter adieu.
Brayely the cross of their country they bore;
Words of devotion they wrote with their gore;
Grandy they grasped for garland of light,
Catching the mantle of DEATH darkened night.
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband, and brother. and lover:
Clasp in your hearts, these dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the feet that, all wzary and torn,
sHither by comrades ayere tenderly borne:
Feet that have troddsn Though love-lghted ways,
Near to your own, igfthe old happy days;
Feet that have pressed, in life's opening morn,
Roses of pleasure and deaths poisoned thorn.
Swiftly they rushed to thehelp of the right
Firmly they stood III the shock of the fight.
Ne'er shall the eDemy's s hurrying tramp
Summon them forth from their death-guarded
Ne'er till Eternty's bugle Shall sound,
Will they come out from their couch in the ground.
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband, and 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 born 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 pqlseless and still;
Once they were glowing with friendship and love,
Now the great souls have gone soaring above
Bravely their blood to the Nation they gave,
Then in her bosom they found them grave.
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband, and brother and lover:
Press to your hearts these dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
One there is sleeping in yonder low tomb,
Worthy the brightest of fiow'rets that bloom
Weakness of womanhoods life was her part;
Tenderly strong was her generous heart.
Bravely she stood by the sufferers side,
Checking the pain and the life-bearing tide;
Fighting the swift-sweeping phantom of death,
Easing the dying mans futtering breath.
Then when the strife that had nerved her was er
Calmly she went to where wars more
Voices have blessed her now silent and dumb;
Voices will bless her in long years to come
!. Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Blessings, like angels, around her shall hover:
Treasure the name OF that sister of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the thousands that sleep far away
Sleep where their friends cannot find them to-day
They who in mountain and hillside and dell
Rest where they wearied, and lie where they fell
Softly the grass-blade creeps round their repose;
Sweetly above them the wild flow ret blows;
Zephyrs of freedom fly gently DER head,
Whispering names Tor the patriot dead.
So in minds will name them once more
So in our hearts we will cover them DER;
Roses and lilies and violets blue
Bloom in souls for the brave and the true
Cover them over-yes, cover them over
Parent and husband, and brother, and lover;
Think of those far-away heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
When the long years have crept slowly away,
E'en to the dawn of earth's funeral day;
When at the Arch-angels trumpet and tread
Rise up the faces and forms of the dead;
When the great world its last judgment awaits:
When the blue sky shall swing open its gates,
And our long columns march silently through
Past the Great Captain for final review:
Then for the blood that has flown for the right,
Crowns shall be given untarnished and bright;
Then the glad ear of each war-rnartyred son
Proudly shall hear the good Judgment "Wel
done'
Blessings for garlands shall cover them over
Parent, and husband and brother and lover;
God will reward those dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.