Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/261

Rh

Just as the spring came laughing through the strife,
 * With all its gorgeous cheer,

In the bright April of historic life
 * Fell the great cannoneer.

The wondrous lulling of a hero's breath
 * His bleeding country weeps;

Hushed, in the alabaster arms of Death,
 * Our young Marcellus sleeps.

Nobler and grander than the child of Rome,
 * Curbing his chariot steeds,

The knightly scion of a Southern home
 * Dazzled the land with deeds.

Gentlest and bravest in the battle-brunt—
 * The Champion of the Truth—

He bore his banner to the very front
 * Of our immortal youth.

A clang of sabers mid Virginian snow,
 * The fiery pang of shells,—

And there's a wail of immemorial woe
 * In Alabama dells:

The pennon droops, that led the sacred band
 * Along the crimson field;

The meteor blade sinks from the nerveless hand,
 * Over the spotless shield.