 | War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. |  |
THE SOUTHERN SOLDIER BOY.
Young as the youngest who donned the gray,
True as the truest who wore it,
Brave as the bravest he marched away,
(Hot tears on the cheeks of his mother lay,)
Triumphant waved our flag one day,
He fell in the front before it.
True as the truest who wore it,
Brave as the bravest he marched away,
(Hot tears on the cheeks of his mother lay,)
Triumphant waved our flag one day,
He fell in the front before it.
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CHORUS:—A grave in the wood with the grass o'er-grown,
A grave in the heart of his mother,
His clay in the one, lifeless and lone,
But his memory lives in the other.
A grave in the heart of his mother,
His clay in the one, lifeless and lone,
But his memory lives in the other.
Firm as the firmest where duty led,
He hurried without a falter;
Bold as the boldest he fought and bled,
And the day was won—but Jhe field was red;
And the blood of his fresh young heart was shed,
On his country's hallowed altar.
CHORUS:—A grave in the wood with the grass o'er-grown, etc.
He hurried without a falter;
Bold as the boldest he fought and bled,
And the day was won—but Jhe field was red;
And the blood of his fresh young heart was shed,
On his country's hallowed altar.
CHORUS:—A grave in the wood with the grass o'er-grown, etc.
On the trampled breast of the battle-plain,
Where the foremost ranks had wrestled,
The fairest form 'mid all the slain,
Like a child asleep he nestled;
In the solemn shade of the woods that swept
The field where his comrades found him,
They buried him there—and strong men wept,
As in silence they gathered 'round him.
CHORUS:—A grave in the wood with the grass o'er-grown, etc.
Where the foremost ranks had wrestled,
The fairest form 'mid all the slain,
Like a child asleep he nestled;
In the solemn shade of the woods that swept
The field where his comrades found him,
They buried him there—and strong men wept,
As in silence they gathered 'round him.
CHORUS:—A grave in the wood with the grass o'er-grown, etc.
| War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. | |