In haughty and defiant mood,
With armor flashing, swords upraised,
Majestic, terrible, they stood,
And in their eyes the anger blazed!

Virginia, beautiful and proud,
Georgia and Texas, starry browed,
Met Massachusetts's azure rays,
And New York's unrelenting gaze.

No words can weigh the woe they made,
Or measure all the blood that flowed;
Each heard a call, and each obeyed,
And madly, blindly, onward strode.

What of the men who led them wrong?
Yet Justice turned their plans to naught;
God touched the scale, the weak grew strong,
And Freedom's miracle was wrought.

And now the nun-like, soothing years
Have bound the wounds, the spirits healed,
And who would chase the clouds, the tears,
When Peace in beauty stands revealed?

The true forbearance and respect,
The love that levels steeps of hate
Have built again the temple wrecked—
The harmony that makes us great.

Praise for the South! From bended knee
She rises now to start anew,
As with a smile, right royally,
She clasps the hand that overthrew.

But stay! Is there a North or South?
Who'll give the ground to hold the line
'Twixt mighty Mississippi's mouth
And snowy Maine's most northern pine?

For with a feeling deep and true,
In sympathy, at least, to-day,
Fall southern roses o'er the blue,
And northern violets o'er the gray.

I see the States as if they met
And mingled in the minuet,
Scattering flowers and stepping slow,
While Peace and Love their bugles blow!

For South is North and North is South,
That which divided binds them round,
And swallows court the cannon's mouth,
Hid in a honeysuckle mound.