Classic Poem

The while Lee gazed again upon his State
And felt the ancient glory of her dreams,
Her vales seemed paved with light, and all her hills
Held beacons streaming like huge satellites
That usher in the dawn towards the night's end.
And the night ended. All the founts of day
Leaped in the Mighty Captain and his men, —
Warriors again, like to Antaeus fabled,
Touching their mother earth, Virginia's soil,
And drawing out of her fresh strength and fire
Unconquerable. Though the Southern Cross
Had trailed the sanguine dust across the vale
Betwixt the smoking crests of Gettysburg,
The Army of Virginia set its front
Once more determined towards the threatening foe.

'Twas Winter-time beside the Rapidan;
'Twas likewise hunger-time and bare-foot time;
'Twas Valley Forge again and ancientry
Of pain and prayer revived on snowy wastes
For them and him who faced with lines of steel
The fast-increasing Northern armament.
So suffering hardship, but unmurmuring,
The Southern legions waited for the Spring.