A Memorial Day Poem

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1882:

Decoration Day

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest On this Field of the Grounded Arms,        Where foes no more molest, Nor sentry's shot alarms!	All is repose and peace, Untrampled lies the sod; The shouts of battle cease, It is the Truce of God!
Ye have slept on the ground before, And started to your feet At the cannon's sudden roar, Or the drum's redoubling beat.	Rest, comrades, rest and sleep! The thoughts of men shall be As sentinels to keep Your rest from danger free.
But in this camp of Death No sound your slumber breaks; Here is no fevered breath, No wound that bleeds and aches.	Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours.

A Memorial Day Poem by Longfellow, From The Atlantic, June 1882 - The Atlantic