Classic Poem

Failure behind and lowering clouds before,
A broken heart within, through darksome days
And nights of drenching rain, by vexing roads,
Across the gorged Potomac at its flood,
Lee forced his Army back to Old Virginia,
While slowly, painfully, his foemen strode,
Pursuers battle-worn and hesitant.

The days of miracle were ended not,
Else Lee's spent legions ne'er could have recrossed
The swollen river and prolonged the strife.
God, the Omnipotent, hath strangeful lead.
Yet now the world beholds historic days
The servants of a High Beneficence,
To work the stronger Will, the loftier Love.
Thus burning Richmond, fateful Appomattox,
War-wasted cities, battle-blasted fields,
Hunger and tattered raiment, ruined hearths,
Throats songless, wraiths of expectation ranged
Midst graves irreconcilable, Despair
Stalking, the comrade of Destruction — these
Were the essentials if the impregnate South
Should bring to birth her Child of Destiny.