Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COMMEMORATION ODE, by KARL MYERS First Line: Man has not lost, in whatsoever night Last Line: And wreathe the laurel with the asphodel. Subject(s): American Civil War; Garnett, Robert Selden (1819-1861); Monuments; U.s. - History | ||||||||
(On the Unveiling of the Monument Commemorating the Battle of Corrick's Ford and the Death of Gen. Robert S. Garnett, June, 1861.) Man has not lost, in whatsoever night, The faith that darkness ends in lasting light. And so this tall, gray column typifies The strong, upright and purer souls of men; The souls that live again In what immortal joy, in what bright skies! Proudly it rears Its head above the shadows of dead years Into the sunlight of a kinder day, With the old passions passed away Through Time's long wisdom into peace of tears. And yet, this granite stone, I say, memorializes not alone One man's heroic death, one skirmish lost and won. Who looks upon this monument has seen That vast, magnanimous, forgiving heart That is our country's, and has always been, Of which our great, slain Leader had so large a part. Look, questing eye, throughout the world elsewhere: You shall not see The love that outlives war, and at the end Lifts up the fallen foe, and says: "My friend!" Binds up the bleeding wounds with tender care, Pins on the vanquished breast fame's medals rare, And whispers: "Come with me, In newer bonds of brotherhood to share The spirit of the richer life to be." This long, slim finger pointing to the sky; These flags that in unblemished splendor fly Above these sons of blue and gray, That spirit, here today, In fullest reverence exemplify. No more shall flash the fratricidal sword At quiet Corrick's Ford. No more the fragile flowers of spring shall feel The cannon's iron wheel. Nay -- but for things more tender and divine The silent tongue of flowers shall serve us well The fittest thoughts of memory to tell, As with the amaranths we roses twine, And wreathe the laurel with the asphodel. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLD OSAWATOMIE by CARL SANDBURG THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG by HARRY MACARTHY LEE'S PAROLE by MARION MANVILLE THE SURRENDER OF NEW ORLEANS by MARION MANVILLE THE LITTLE ODYSSEY OF JASON QUINT, OF SCIENCE, DOCTOR by THOMAS MCGRATH A CANTICLE: SIGNIFICANT OF NATIONAL EXALTATION CLOSE OF WAR by HERMAN MELVILLE |
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