When the Great Gray Ships Come In
And the great gray ships are silent, and the weary watchers
rest; The black cloud dies in the August skies, and deep in the
golden west
Invisible hands are limning a glory of crimson bars, And far above is the wonder of a myriad wakened stars ! Peace ! As the tidings silence the strenuous cannonade, Peace at last! is the bugle-blast the length of the long
blockade ;
And eyes of vigil weary are lit with the glad release, From ship to ship and from lip to lip it is ' ' Peace ! Thank
God for peace ! ' '
Ah, in the sweet hereafter Columbia still shall show
The sons of these who swept the seas how she bade them
rise and go ;
How, when the stirring summons smote on her children's ear, South and North at the call stood forth, and the whole land
answered "Here! " For the soul of the soldier's story and the heart of the
sailor's song Are all of those who meet their foes as right should meet
with wrong,
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