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Mort Kunstler
~~~by "A Soldier's Wife"~~~
There's not a stately hall,
There's not a cottage fair,
That proudly stands on Southern soil,
Or softly nestles there,
But in its peaceful walls
With wealth or comfort blessed,
A stormy battle fierce hath raged
In gentle woman's breast.
There Love, the true, the brave,
The beautiful, the strong,
Wrestles with Duty, gaunt and stern,
Wrestles and struggles long.
He falls, no more again
His giant foe to meet;
Bleeding at every opening vein,
Love falls at Duty's feet.
O Daughter of the South!
No victor's crown be thine,
Not thine upon the tented field
In martial pomp to shine;
But with unfaltering trust
In Him who rules on high,
To deck thy loved ones for the fray,
And send them forth to die.
She, the tried, the true,
The loving wife of years,
Chokes down the rising agony,
Drives back the starting tears;
"I yield thee up," she cries,
"In the country's cause to fight;
Strike for our own, our children's home
And God defend the right."
O Daughter of the South!
When our fair land is free,
When peace her lovely mantle throws
Softly o'er land and sea,
History shall tell how thou
Hast nobly borne thy part,
And won the proudest triumph yet
The victory of the heart.
This poem was taken from Southern Poems of the War, compiled by Virginian Emily Mason in 1868. The dedication of the volume read: "These poems, the offspring of Southern hearts, sung by Southern firesides and Southern campfires, are affectionately inscribed to the Southern soldiers, by one who admired their heroism, sympathized with their successes, mourned their sufferings, and shared their privations."
Poetry and Music of the War Between the States
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