Apocalypse
By Richard Realf (1834 � 1878) |
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Straight to his heart the bullet crushed;
Down from
his breast the red blood gushed,
And o'er his face a
glory rushed.
A sudden spasm shook his frame,
And
in his ears there went and came
A sound as of devouring
flame.
Which in a moment ceased, and then
The
great light clasped his brows again,
So that they shone
like Stephen's when
Saul stood apart a little space
And shook with shuddering awe to trace
God's splendors
settling o'er his face.
Thus, like a king, erect in
pride,
Raising clean hands toward heaven, he cried:
"All hail the Stars and Stripes!" and died.
Died
grandly. But before he fell--
(O blessedness ineffable!)
Vision apocalyptical
Was granted to him, and his
eyes,
All radiant with glad surprise,
Looked forward
through the Centuries,
And saw the seeds which sages
cast
In the world's soil in cycles past,
Spring up and
blossom at the last;
Saw how the souls of men had
grown,
And where the scythes of Truth had mown
Clear
space for Liberty's white throne;
Saw how, by sorrow
tried and proved,
The blackening stains had been removed
Forever from the land he loved;
Saw Treason crushed
and Freedom crowned,
And clamorous Faction, gagged and
bound,
Gasping its life out on the ground.
* * * *
*
With far-off vision gazing clear
Beyond this
gloomy atmosphere
Which shuts us out with doubt and fear
He--marking how her high increase
Ran greatening in
perpetual lease
Through balmy years of odorous Peace
Greeted in one transcendent cry
Of intense,
passionate ecstasy
The sight which thrilled him utterly;
Saluting, with most proud disdain
Of murder and of
mortal pain,
The vision which shall be again!
So,
lifted with prophetic pride,
Raised conquering hands to
heaven and cried:
"All hail the Stars and Stripes!" and
died. |
By Richard Realf (1834 � 1878)
Listed
July 11, 2012 |
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Note: (April 19, 1861)
The first life lost in the battle with rebellion was
that of Private
Arthur Ladd, of the Sixth
Massachusetts, killed in the attack of
the Baltimore
mob.
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