Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-05-30
COVER THEM OVER.

Years they have marked for the joys of
the brave:
Years they must waste in the moulder-
ing grave.
All the bright laurels they waited to
bloom
Fell from their hopes when they fell to
the tomb
Give them the need they have won in
the past;
Give them the honors their future fore
cast;
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 beautiful
flowers.
Cover the faces that motionless lie,
Shut from the blue of the glorious sky,
Faces one decked with the smiles of the
gay,
Faces now marked with the frown of
decay;
Eyes that looked friendship and love to
your own,
Lips that the thoughts of affection made
known;
Brows you have Soothed in the hour of
distress,
Cheeks you have frightened by tender
caress.
Oh! how they cleaned at the nations
first cry.
Oh! how they streamed when they bade
you goodbye.
Oh! how they cleaned in the battles
fierce flame!
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 on the bosom and low by the
side,
Hands to you mother, in infancy shown;
Hands by you, father, clasped close to
your own;
Hands where you, sister, when tried and
dismayed,
Hung for protection and counsel and
aid;
Hands that you, brother, in loyalty
knew,
Hands that 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 and brother and lover!
Crown in your hearts those 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 tlowery 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 thoy stood in the shock of the
fight.
Ne'er shall the enemy's hurrying tramp
Summon them forth from their death
guarded camp;
Ne'er till the bugle of Gabriel sound
viii 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 fell low 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 her bosom they found them a
grave.
Cover them over; yes, cover them over;
Parent and husband, brother and lover!
Kiss in your hearts those dead heroes OF
ours,
And cover them over with beautlful
flowers.