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Each day was darker than its yesterday.
Each wind of morn was wilder than the last.
The South was rising for an ancient faith
'Gainst which the North and West had steadily
Set frame and feature. Lee, who stood and heard
The Inaugural words of Lincoln as he took
The Nation's helm within his untried hand,
Knew well the past, remembering former days, —
The Southern pulsings of hearts cultured long
Into the double doctrine for which now
Tongues eloquent were thundering, arsenals
Were laden with the instruments of strife.
Long had he balanced in the days of eld
The little Slaver Ship at Jamestown's wharf
And the brave Mayflower upon Plymouth Rock,
The centuried significance of each,
Divergent history of North and South,
And now two civilizations face to face
To meet in mortal combat, one to rise
And dominate the other — God alone
Knew which — 'twas strange none knew beside,
Not even Lincoln, first among his peers,
And like his ancient namesake, " Friend of God. "
And yet did he not know? Methinks he knew,
Since God he knew, walking alone with Him
Daily upon the mountain peaks of truth
And seeing the graphic order of the world.
And did not Lee, who likewise walked with God,
Know which, but heard a Voice none other heard
Compulsive, since it ministered unto
In tragic tones the pageant ethical
That marches to the music of the stars?
Behold the Mighty Captain, as thine eyes
Con history's page! Truth's swerveless chronicler
Will tell thee this in subtle imagery
Of the high soul that sensed the Squadrons White
Round Appomattox Court House, and along
The sorrowful way he rode to meet his men —
His tearful comrades bearing still aloft
The great Lost Cause translated by defeat
Into Love's centuried processional.
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