Margaret Junkin Preston

Virginia

   A Sonnet

Grandly thou fillest the world's eye to-day,
  My proud Virginia! When the gage was thrown--
  The deadly gage of battle--thou, alone,
Strong in thy self-control, didst stoop to lay
The olive-branch thereon, and calmly pray
  We might have peace, the rather. When the foe
  Turned scornfully upon thee,--bade thee go,
And whistled up his war-hounds, then--the way
  Of duty full before thee,--thou didst spring
  Into the centre of the martial ring--
Thy brave blood boiling, and thy glorious eye,
  Shot with heroic fire, and swear to claim
  Sublimest victory in God's own name,--
Or, wrapped in robes of martyrdom,--to die!