Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/302

284 Come! flocking gayly to the fight, From forest, hill, and lake; We battle for our Country s right, And for the Lily s sake!

CHARLESTON

Calm as that second summer which precedes The first fall of the snow, In the broad sunlight of heroic deeds, The City bides the foe. As yet, behind their ramparts stern and proud, Her bolted thunders sleep Dark Sumter, like a battlemented cloud, Looms o er the solemn deep. No Calpe frowns from lofty cliff or scar To guard the holy strand; But Moultrie holds in leash her dogs of war Above the level sand. And down the dunes a thousand guns lie couched, Unseen, beside the flood Like tigers in some Orient jungle crouched That wait and watch for blood. Meanwhile, through streets still echoing with trade, Walk grave and thoughtful men, Whose hands may one day wield the patriot s blade As lightly as the pen.