Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/189

Rh PRO PATRIA

IN MEMORY OF A FAITHFUL CHAPLAIN

I

I sang the praise of them whose lustrous names

Flashed in war's dreadful flames;

Who rose in glory, and in splendor, and in might

To fame's sequestered hight.

II

Honor to all, for each his honors meekly carried,

Nor e'er the conquered harried;

All honor, for they sought alone to serve the state—

Not merely to be great.

III

Yes, while the glorious past our grateful memory craves,

And while yon bright flag waves,

Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, the peerless four,

Shall live for evermore;

IV

Shall shine the eternal stars of stern and loyal love,

All other stars above;

The imperial nation they made one, at last, and free,

Their monument shall be.

V

Ah, yes! but ne'er may we forget the praise to sound

Of the brave souls that found

Death in the myriad ranks, 'mid blood, and groans, and stenches—

Tombs in the abhorrèd trenches.