Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-05-30
twilight Mt Hollywood.


"A prize poem TO the Confederate oeau'
by lines Randolph
To-day our maidens gathered here 10
The esTIy flowers upon the soldiers
In their sweet custom: and at early morn
Hitler they came with blosson's' "'''
And earnest faces falrer than the flowers;
No grave has been forgotten-dh aie
rna simn Ieu soldier from the distant state
Is loved and honored. though. perehanee'
And Where where he he sleeps is beautiful with
One s Stsved a little when the rest were
BESIDE a grave. quite motiOnie'' she
untn ' the paths grew dim. then turned
Ana atwyaiiIlpbt gathers over Hollywood;
Tho Tho sun GOES down behind pShA Oh
And dash dashes all the stormy West with
=, di Dioou' bero IN broken cause,
Wben pouring out HIS wasted me- IL
The i lsssG he loved to darkness and defeat
Far down below 7 hear the river rush
And standing In this city OF tne ueau,
Tbe voice az waters seems a human cIy
That rises from the breadth OF all the
of eb lana hearthstones and of broken
hearts.
The city. growing sombre in the dusk;
was lit with splendor forty moh'hs
when all our best and bravest gathered
A nations fortress and her capital.
The long streets trembled with the tramp
OF men.
And rang with shouting and with mar
tial strains;
And up the glancing river came the boom
or mighty guns that held Meet at pay;
But sorrow came upon her, and deieat'
She sank in ashes, and a peoples hope
Sank with her; and her glory passed
away.
torn,
Her children bent their heads beneath
the yoke
In bitter silence; and her chosen chief
Was fettered in the fortress by the sea
o. rapid river. with the mighty voice,
Rave through thy hills, and wear away
the rocks.
Even as a people wears away the heart
In thinking on their glory and their fall.
But. o. the spirit Of the first campaigns
~ nays Oh ire anu nAbAAbAs
From Rio Grande 10 the Chesapeake.
They gathered, sweeping joyous to the
hght.
The wild yell rising from the trampling
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 blow and leaves wreck
behind,
They swept along, a living surge OF
with tempest voice and crest OF bayonet.
God smiled at first then turned His iace
And hope, that glittered like a sunlit
sword
Was quenched in gloom; and still they
smote the foe
TIL. broken by their victories, they fell.
For ever thin and thinner grew the
The weary wear; march. the hungry blvouac.
The sleepIess outpost listlessness of
The longing for the loved at home-all
Far more than wasting battle, wasted
Until their strength was spent-now low
And neyer more upon Virginia hills
Shall thrill the onset OF the southern
lines. ,h.a.
The mon that bore the bayonet and blade
Shall bear them now no more;
But. on 10 think how bright and swift
they were, 80,
And now how cold and still!
| o. rushing river. thou at least art free
And tit TO sing soldiers requi III
Deep-tone and tremulous-the dirge OF
That once were tameless as thy win
ter flood.
When once again We stand erect and
free -
And we may write truthful epitaph-
| 4 nation uttering its grief IN stone
Shall pile aloft a stately monument.
Not that their fame has need OF SOUP
For thew the have IA; lived such lives and
wrought such deeds
As veual history cannot lie away.
TIN then shall scattered roses deck theif
And woman's tear shall be their epitaph.
O. river. though they moulder In the dust
Let them not perish from our heaIts-
speak on,
And till US with thy rushing energy.
That as the gathered freshets OF the
Burst p Upward through the shackes OF
So we al last may dash our letters on
For until then. these men have dled IN