Jeffrey Hull
Friday, June 29, 2007
Confederate Cemetery
Confederate graves, Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, 2006.
Robert Lawton. Creative Commons license.
By rank and file the stones parade
In springtime warm or winter deep;
Entrenched in final defilade,
In easy peace the soldiers sleep.
On muggy August afternoons
No lads march by in dusty lines,
Nor ring those jaunty caisson tunes
Past groves of aromatic pines.
Those rebel boys who took up war
And joked and jibed what such portends
Got what - or more than - bargained for
And lie in silence with their friends.
The last of fading evening's bees
Buzz quiet Taps as home they go;
Sweet honeysuckle perfumed breeze
No longer interests those below.
© Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Hull
