Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE JACKET OF GREY, by CAROLINE AUGUSTA BALL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE JACKET OF GREY, by                    
First Line: Fold it up carefully, lay it aside
Last Line: The jacket of grey our loved soldier boy wore!
Subject(s): American Civil War; Confederate States Of America; United States - History; Confederacy


Fold it up carefully, lay it aside;
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride;
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
The jacket of grey our loved soldier boy wore.

Can we ever forget when he joined the brave band,
Who rose in defence of our dear Southern land,
And in his bright youth hurried on to the fray,
How proudly he donned it? the jacket of grey.

His fond mother blessed him and looked up above,
Commending to Heaven the child of her love;
What anguish was her's, mortal tongue cannot say,
When he passed from her sight in the jacket of grey.

But her country had called, and she would not repine,
Though costly the sacrifice placed on its shrine;
Her heart's dearest hopes on its altar she lay,
When she sent out her boy in the jacket of grey.

Months passed, and war's thunders rolled over the land,
Unsheathed was the sword, and lighted the brand;
We heard in the distance the sounds of the fray,
And prayed for our boy in the jacket of grey.

Ah! vain, all, all vain were our prayers and our tears,
The glad shout of victory rang in our ears;
But our treasured one on the red battle field lay,
While the life-blood oozed out on the jacket of grey.

His young comrades found him, and tenderly bore
The cold lifeless form to his home by the shore;
Oh, dark were our hearts on that terrible day,
When we saw our dead boy in the jacket of grey.

Ah! spotted and tattered, and stained now with gore,
Was the garment which once he so proudly wore;
We bitterly wept as we took it away,
And replaced with death's white robes the jacket of grey.

We laid him to rest in his cold narrow bed,
And graved on the marble we placed o'er his head,
As the proudest tribute our sad hearts could pay,
He never disgraced the jacket of grey.

Then fold it up carefully, lay it aside,
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride;
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
The jacket of grey our loved soldier boy wore!





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