Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Western States: Louisville, Ky. | | Cave Hill Cemetery | | George Dennison Prentice (1802–1870) |
| | (Excerpt)
HERE, whilst the twilight dews | |
| Are softly gathering on the leaves and flowers, | |
| I come, O patriot dead, to muse | |
| A few brief hours. | |
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| Hard by you, rank on rank, | 5 |
| Rise the sad evergreens, whose solemn forms | |
| Are dark as if they only drank | |
| The thunder-storms. | |
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| Through the thick leaves around | |
| The low, wild winds their dirge-like music pour, | 10 |
| Like the far ocean’s solemn sound, | |
| On its lone shore. | |
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| From all the air a sigh, | |
| Dirge-like and soul-like, melancholy, wild, | |
| Comes like a mother’s wailing cry | 15 |
| O’er her dead child. | |
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| Yonder, a little way, | |
| Where mounds rise think like surges on the sea, | |
| Those whom ye met in fierce array | |
| Sleep dreamlessly. | 20 |
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| The same soft breezes sing, | |
| The same birds chant their spirit-requiem, | |
| The same sad flowers their fragrance fling | |
| O’er you and them. | |
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| And pilgrims oft will grieve | 25 |
| Alike o’er Northern and o’er Southern dust, | |
| And both to God’s great mercy leave | |
| In equal trust. | |
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| Oh, ye and they, as foes, | |
| Will meet no more, but calmly take your rest, | 30 |
| The meek hands folded in repose | |
| On each still breast. | |
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| No marble columns rear | |
| Their shafts to blazon each dead hero’s name, | |
| Yet well, oh, well, ye slumber here, | 35 |
| Great sons of fame! | |
| |
| The dead as free will start | |
| From the unburdened as the burdened sod, | |
| And stand as pure in soul and heart | |
| Before their God. * * * * * | 40 | | | |
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