Flowers for the Brave
(DECORATION DAY, 1883)
HERE bring your purple and gold,
Glory of color and scent;
Scarlet of tulips bold,
Buds blue as the firmament.
Hushed is the sound of the fife
And the bugle piping clear.
The vivid and delicate life
In the soul of the youthful year
We bring to the quiet dead,
With a gentle and tempered grief:
O’er the mounds so mute we shed
The beauty of blossom and leaf.
The flashing swords that were drawn,
No rust shall their fame destroy!
Boughs rosy as rifts of dawn,
Like the blush on the cheek of joy,
Rich fires of the gardens and meads
We kindle, these hearts above!
What splendor can match their deeds?
What sweetness can match our love?
