Josephine Heard, "Decoration Day" (1890)
WE gather where the weeping willow waves;
With flowers we will strew the grassy graves—
Who enter here must come with softest tread,
In presence of the brave and valiant dead.
Come, noble sons of Union, daughters fair;
A dirge is floating on the summer air;
O'er the city freedom's ensign proudly waves,
Come, shed a tear above the fallen braves!
Strains of weird music freight the noonday air,
And veterans tread the highways here and there.
Where peacefully repose the fallen braves,
The birds are chanting requiems o'er the graves.
No more is heard the cannon's crash and roar,
Peace spreads her joyful wings from shore to shore.
No more is heard the musket's shower like hail,
And hushed and still the mother's piteous wail.
Loud let the drum and fife with music sound,
Loud let their praise be echoed all around;
Let loyal heart and voice join in the sound;
Let infant hands with roses strew the ground.
Published in Morning Glories, 1890