(Written for a Kentucky Company)
[From _Southern Poems of the War_, edited by Emily V. Mason
(Baltimore, 1867)]
We pledge thee, Lee!
In water or wine,
In blood or in brine,
What matter the sign?
Whether brilliantly glowing,
Or darkly overflowing,
So the cup is divine
That we fill to thee!
Vanquished--victorious,
Gloomy or glorious,
Fainting and bleeding,
Advancing, receding,
Lingering or leading,
Captive or free;
With swords raised on high,
With hearts nerved to die,
Or to grasp victory;
Hand to hand--knee to knee,
With a wild three times three
We pledge thee, Lee!
We pledge thee, chief:
In the name of our nation,
Her wide devastation,
Her sore desolation,
Her grandeur and grief!
Where'er thou warrest
When our need is the sorest,
Or in Fortress or forest,
Bidest thy time;
Thou--Heaven elected,
Thou--Angel-protected,
Thou--Brother selected,
What e'er thy fate be,
Our trust is in thee,
And our faith is sublime.
With swords raised on high,
With hearts nerved to die,
Or to grasp victory;
Hand to hand--knee to knee,
With a wild three times three,
We pledge thee, Lee!