What lofty pennons flaunt ? The Cumberland's manned again! All the ships and their men Are in line of battle to-day, All at quarters, as when Their last roll thundered away, All at their guns, as then, For the Fleet salutes to-day. The armies have broken camp With alignment firm and solemn, In mighty square and column,— The Old Flag they died under Of the thirty guns and four! In solid platoons of steel, Under heaven's triumphal arch, The long lines break and wheel; And the word is, "Forward, march The colors ripple o'erhead, The drums roll up to the sky, And with martial time and tread March on, your last brave mile! It never had known erewhile,— Close round him, hearts of pride! Our Father is not alone! Waits to welcome his own. - HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL. PROMETHEUS VINCTUS. [Written while Jefferson Davis was a prisoner in Fortress Monroe, where he was confined for two years after the downfall of the Confederacy.] PROMETHEUS on the cold rock bound, The vulture at his heart, In you, O Southern Chief, has found The Titan by his wondrous skill He made a dull insensate thing, Your spirit, with life's stirring spring, Like him, your greatness did you wrong, Your virtue was your bane; Each soared above the common throng, Each found a prison chain! Your aims alike were noble; well Each, having done his utmost, fell— Ye fell, but gained a height sublime, No farther may the semblance go. While you, O gentle sufferer, feel, Within your grated prison cell Of fierce Tiberias, he exerts A spirit-soothing calm, And heals the sting of earthly hurts Around you in unending play And white with crests of seething spray These ocean-surges well express Chains and a prison cannot wrest The stately land you strove to save, But though she weeps her cherished dead No tears of bitterness are shed You hold her heart-strings in your hand, That strikes you as you helpless stand Falls doubly hard on her! Heaven help us all! The New Year dawns Again with gladsome birth; God grant, ere many smiling morns Have glorified the earth, That one may break amid the stars, FANNY DOWNING. "GONE FORWARD." [General Robert E. Lee died October 12, 1870. His last words were: "Let the tent be struck!"] YES, "Let the tent be struck": Victorious morning Through every crevice flashes in a day Magnificent beyond all earth's adorning : The night is over; wherefore should he stay? And wherefore should our voices choke to say, The General has gone forward!" 44 Life's foughten field not once beheld surrender, Wearing his armor spotless,-till at last Death gave the final "Forward!" All hearts grew sudden palsied: Yet what said he, Thus summoned ?-"Let the tent be struck!"For when Did call of duty fail to find him ready Nobly to do his work in sight of men, For God's and for his country's sake-and then To watch, wait, or go forward? Such a story We will not weep,-we dare not! - |