What marches when the veterans march On the thirtieth day of May, That limping, glorious line of men Over a flower-strewn way? Why, Gettysburg is marching there, And frightful Malvern Hill, The shame and terror of Bull Run, The loss of Chancellorsville. Fort Sumter marches, Donelson, And Sherman's "to the sea," The Monitor, the Hartford, Duels of Grant and Lee. There goes the ghost of Andersonville, And Libby's spectre grim; There marches Lookout Mountain, There strides the Battle Hymn. There passes the Proclamation, End of a curse abhorred; And there goes Appomattox, The sheathing of the sword. All this goes by when the veterans march On the thirtieth day of May; And what can those that see it do But lift the hat, and pray? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FIRST VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT [1497] by KATHARINE LEE BATES EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: A DRIFTER OFF TARENTUM by RUDYARD KIPLING CYNTHIA ON HORSEBACK by PHILIP AYRES GERARDA by ELOISE ALBERTA VERONICA BIBB A NEW PILGRIMAGE: 27 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |