MAY 30, 1907 



Number 22 



ME J 





(£ovcr Cl?eiit ©per 



BY WILL CAKLETON 



Cover them over with beautiful flowers; 

 Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours; 

 Lying so silent, by night and by day. 

 Sleeping the years of their manhood away ; 

 Years they had marked for the joys of the brave; 

 Years they must waste in the sloth of the grave. 

 All the bright laurels they fought to make bloom 

 Fell to the earth when they went to the tomb. 

 Give them the meed they have won in the past; 

 Give them the honors their merits forecast ; 

 Give them the chaplets they won in the strife; 

 Give them the laurels they lost with their life. 

 Cover them over — yes, cover them over — 

 Parent, and husband, and brother, and lover ; 

 Crown in your heart these dead heroes of ours, 

 And cover them over with beautiful flowers. 



Cover the thousands who sleep far away — 



Sleep where their friends can not find them to-day; 



They who in mountain and hill-side and dell 



Rest where they wearied, and lie where they fell. 



Softly the grass-blade creeps round their repose; 



Sweetly above them the wild flow'ret blows; 



Zephyrs of freedom fly gently o'erhead, 



Whispering names for the patriot dead. 



So in our minds we will name them once more, 



So in our hearts we will cover them o'er; 



Roses and lilies and violets blue 



Bloom in our souls for the brave and true. 



Cover them over — yes, cover them over — 



Parent, and husband, and brother, and lover: 



Think of those far-away heroes of ours, 



And cover them over with beautiful flowers. 



When the long years have crept slowly away, 

 E'en to the dawn of Earth's funeral day ; 

 When, at the Archangel's trumpet and tread, 

 Rise up the faces and forms of the dead ; 

 When the great world its last judgment awaits; 

 When the blue sky shall swing open its gates. 

 And our long columns march silently through, 

 Past the Great Captain, for final review ; 

 Then for the blood that has flown for the right. 

 Crowns shall be given, untarnished and bright; 

 Then the glad ear of each war-martyred son 

 Proudly shall hear the good judgment, " Well done.' 

 Blessings for garlands shall cover them over — 

 Parent, and husband, and brother, and lover: 

 God will reward those dead heroes of ours, 

 And cover them over with beautiful flowers. 



THIRTY-TWO PAGE NUMBER 



