here in peace...

This from:

"SINGERS AND SONGS OF THE LIBERAL FAITH:  BEING SELECTIONS OF HYMNS AND OTHER SACRED POEMS OF THE LIBERAL CHURCH IN AMERICA,

BY ALFRED P. PUTNAM."

"DECORATION
"MID the flower-wreathed tombs I stand,
Bearing lilies in my hand.
Comrades ! in what soldier-grave
Sleeps the bravest of the brave ?

Is it he who sank to rest
With his colors round his breast?
Friendship makes his tomb a shrine;
Garlands veil it; ask not mine.

One low grave, yon trees beneath,
Bears no roses, wears no wreath ;
Yet no heart more high and warm
Ever dared the battle-storm.

Never gleamed a prouder eye
In the front of victory;
Never foot had firmer tread
On the field where hope lay dead,

Than are hid within this tomb,
Where the untended grasses bloom ;
And no stone, with feigned distress,
Mocks the sacred loneliness.

Youth and beauty, dauntless will,
Dreams that life could ne'er fulfil,
Here lie buried, — here in peace
Wrongs and woes have found release.

Turning from my comrades' eyes,
Kneeling where a woman lies,
I strew lilies on the grave
Of the bravest of the brave.

Newport, R.I., Decoration Day, 1873."

Blessings