The Blue Against The Gray - A Poem

My high school and Face Book friend, Patricia McCollough Walston, a journalist and author, is posting a series of poems in examiner.com this weekend.   One was from the Revolutionary War and this one from the Civil War.  I really like this and since I am a Civil War buff, and thought I would pass it along to you, my peeps.

Civil War Poem:  The Blue and The Gray
Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907)

By the flow of the inland river,

• Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
• Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
• Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgment-day;
• Under the one, the Blue,
• Under the other, the Gray

• These in the robings of glory,
• Those in the gloom of defeat,
• All with the battle-blood gory,
• In the dusk of eternity meet:
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgement-day
• Under the laurel, the Blue,
• Under the willow, the Gray.

• From the silence of sorrowful hours
• The desolate mourners go,
• Lovingly laden with flowers
• Alike for the friend and the foe;
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgement-day;
• Under the roses, the Blue,
• Under the lilies, the Gray.

• So with an equal splendor,
• The morning sun-rays fall,
• With a touch impartially tender,
• On the blossoms blooming for all:
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgment-day;
• Broidered with gold, the Blue,
• Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 

• So, when the summer calleth,
• On forest and field of grain,
• With an equal murmur falleth
• The cooling drip of the rain:
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgment -day,
• Wet with the rain, the Blue
• Wet with the rain, the Gray.

• Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
• The generous deed was done,
• In the storm of the years that are fading
• No braver battle was won:
• Under the sod adn the dew,
• Waiting the judgment-day;
• Under the blossoms, the Blue,
• Under the garlands, the Gray

• No more shall the war cry sever,
• Or the winding rivers be red;
• They banish our anger forever
• When they laurel the graves of our dead!
• Under the sod and the dew,
• Waiting the judgment-day,
• Love and tears for the Blue,
• Tears and love for the Gray. 

Remember what the 30 of May is all about while you are having fun at the lake or in the backyard bar-b-quing.  The fallen deserve a moment of quiet, an offer of thanks for all they did, and a feeling of respect for their sacrifice.

About the author of “The Blue and the Gray!”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Miles_Finch

And thank you, Pat.