Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.
[Sung on the occasion of decorating the graves of the Confederate dead at Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S. C., 1867.]Henry Timrod 18281867
Henry Timrod171 Ode
S
Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause;
Though yet no marble column craves
The pilgrim here to pause.
The blossom of your fame is blown, And somewhere, waiting for its birth, The shaft is in the stone! Which keep in trust your storied tombs, Behold! your sisters bring their tears, And these memorial blooms. More proudly on these wreaths to-day, Than when some cannon-moulded pile Shall overlook this bay. There is no holier spot of ground Than where defeated valor lies, By mourning beauty crowned!