Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472376" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>At A Dinner To General Grant</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">JULY 31, 1865</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHEN treason first began the strife<br>That crimsoned sea and shore,<br>The Nation poured her hoarded life<br>On Freedom's threshing-floor;<br>From field and prairie, east and west,<br>From coast and hill and plain,<br>The sheaves of ripening manhood pressed<br>Thick as the bearded grain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Rich was the harvest; souls as true<br>As ever battle tried;<br>But fiercer still the conflict grew,<br>The floor of death more wide;<br>Ah, who forgets that dreadful day<br>Whose blot of grief and shame<br>Four bitter years scarce wash away<br>In seas of blood and flame?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Vain, vain the Nation's lofty boasts,--<br>Vain all her sacrifice!<br>'Give me a man to lead my hosts,<br>O God in heaven!' she cries.<br>While Battle whirls his crushing flail,<br>And plies his winnowing fan,--<br>Thick flies the chaff on every gale,--<br>She cannot find her man!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Bravely they fought who failed to win,--<br>Our leaders battle-scarred,--<br>Fighting the hosts of hell and sin,<br>But devils die always hard!<br>Blame not the broken tools of God<br>That helped our sorest needs;<br>Through paths that martyr feet have trod<br>The conqueror's steps He leads.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But now the heavens grow black with doubt,<br>The ravens fill the sky,<br>'Friends' plot within, foes storm without,<br>Hark,--that despairing cry,<br>'Where is the heart, the hand, the brain<br>To dare, to do, to plan?'<br>The bleeding Nation shrieks in vain,--<br>She has not found her man!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A little echo stirs the air,--<br>Some tale, whate'er it be,<br>Of rebels routed in their lair<br>Along the Tennessee.<br>The little echo spreads and grows,<br>And soon the trump of Fame<br>Has taught the Nation's friends and foes<br>The 'man on horseback''s name.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So well his warlike wooing sped,<br>No fortress might resist<br>His billets-doux of lisping lead,<br>The bayonets in his fist,--<br>With kisses from his cannons' mouth<br>He made his passion known<br>Till Vicksburg, vestal of the South,<br>Unbound her virgin zone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And still where'er his banners led<br>He conquered as he came,<br>The trembling hosts of treason fled<br>Before his breath of flame,<br>And Fame's still gathering echoes grew<br>Till high o'er Richmond's towers<br>The starry fold of Freedom flew,<br>And all the land was ours.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Welcome from fields where valor fought<br>To feasts where pleasure waits;<br>A Nation gives you smiles unbought<br>At all her opening gates!<br>Forgive us when we press your hand,--<br>Your war-worn features scan,--<br>God sent you to a bleeding land;<br>Our Nation found its man!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Oliver+Wendell+Holmes">Oliver Wendell Holmes</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472376" data-title="At A Dinner To General Grant de Oliver Wendell Holmes" data-description="JULY 31, 1865

WHEN treason first began the strife
That crimsoned sea and shore,
The Nation poured her hoarded life
On Freedom's threshing-floor;
From field and prairie, east and west,
From coast and hill and plain,
The sheaves of ripening manhood..."></div>
</div>
</div>