| |
| WHITE wings of commerce sailing far, | |
| Hot steam that drives the weltering wheel, | |
| Tamed lightning speeding on the wire, | |
| Iron postman on the way of steel,— | |
| These, circling all the world, have told | 5 |
| The loss that makes us desolate; | |
| For we give back to dust this day | |
| The God-sent man who saved the state. | |
| |
| When black the sky and dire with war, | |
| When every heart was wrung with fear, | 10 |
| He rose serene, and took his place, | |
| The great occasion’s mighty peer. | |
| He smote armed opposition down, | |
| He bade the storm and darkness cease, | |
| And o’er the long-distracted land | 15 |
| Shone out the smiling sun of peace. | |
| |
| The famous captains of the past | |
| March in review before the mind: | |
| Some fought for glory, some for gold, | |
| But most to yoke and rule mankind. | 20 |
| Not so the captain dead to-day, | |
| For whom our half-mast banners wave: | |
| He fought to keep the Union whole, | |
| And break the shackles of the slave. | |
| |
| A silent man, in friendship true, | 25 |
| He made point-blank his certain aim, | |
| And, born a stranger to defeat, | |
| To steadfast purpose linked his name: | |
| For while the angry flood of war | |
| Surged down between its gloomy banks | 30 |
| He followed duty, with the mien | |
| Of but a soldier in the ranks. | |
| |
| How well he wore white honor’s flower, | |
| The gratitude and praise of men, | |
| As General, as President, | 35 |
| And then as simple citizen! | |
| He was a hero to the end: | |
| The dark rebellion raised by Death | |
| Against the Powers of Life and Light, | |
| He battled hard, with failing breath. | 40 |
| |
| O hero of Fort Donelson, | |
| And wooded Shiloh’s frightful strife! | |
| Sleep on! for honor loves the tomb | |
| More than the garish ways of life. | |
| Sleep on! sleep on! Thy wondrous life | 45 |
| Is freedom’s most illustrious page; | |
| And fame shall loudly sound thy praise | |
| In every clime, to every age. | |
| |
