The National tribune., 1884-05-08
Loyalty, we lay the flowers on the graves of the
dead.
POEMS FOR THE DAY.
viii Cartoons Famous Memorial Day Poem
.sCoyer Them Over"

VIII Cartoons Famous Memorial Day fOem-
.sCOyer Them Over. "
Cover them over with beautiful flowers;
Deck them with garlands, these 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 iaurels 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 laurels they lost with their life
Cover them oyer-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband and brother, and lover:
Crown in your heart theae dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers
Cover the faces that motieness lie,
Shut from the blue OF the glorious sky:
Faces once light with the smiles of the gay
Faces now married by the frown of decay.
Eyes that beamcd 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 streamed when they babe you good
bye:
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 Ill your hearts these dead heroes OF ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the hands that are resting half-tried,
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 dis
mayed,
Hung for protection and counsel and aid;
Hands that you brother for faithfulness knew;
Hands that you, wife, wrung in bitter adieu.
Brayely the cross of their country they bore;
Words of devotion they wrote with their gore;
Grandly they grasped for garland of light,
Catching the mantel 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 weary and torn,
HITLER by comrades We're tenderly borne:
Feet that have trodden through loye-lighted ways,
Near TO your own, in the old happy days;
Feet that have pressed in LIES opening morn,
Roses of pleasure and deaths poisoned thorn.
Swiftly they rushed TO the help of the right,
FirRlly 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 Eternity's bugle shall sound,
WEI 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 these heroes of ours
Now cover them over with beautiful flowers.
Cover the hearts that have beaten so high,
Beaten with hopes that were borne but to die;
Hearts that have burned in the heat of the fray;
Hearts that have yearned for the homes Tar away;
Hearts that beat high in the charge 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 the great souls have gone soaring above
Brayely their blood to the Nation they gave,
Then in her bosom they found them grave.
Cover them oyer-yes, cover them over
Parent, and husband and brother, and lovers
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 flow rets that bloom.
Weakness of womanhood's 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 iuttering breath.
Then when the strife that had nerved her was DER,
Calmly she went to where wars are no more.
Voices have blessed her now silent and dumb;
Voices viii bless her in long years to come
Cover them oYcT-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 weared, and lie where they fell.
Softly the grass-blade ereeps round their repose;
sweetly above them the wild low'ret blows
Zephyrs OF freedom fly gently Ger head
Whispering names for the patriot dead
So in minds we will name them once more,
SO in our hearts we will cover them DER;
Roses and lilies and yioIets blue
Bloom in our 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,
Fen to the dawn Of earths 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 nltarnished and bright;
/ Then the glad car OF each war-naartyred SON.
kali
done"
Blessings for garlands shall cover them over
Parent, and husband and brother, and lover:
/ God will reward these dead heroes of ours,
And cover them over with beautiful flowers.