Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Poetry and Incidents., Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

2. corn.¹

by E. Ross White.

The golden banners of the corn
     Will glad the earth again,
Attended by the morning dew
     And the celestial rain!
And matron eyes will brighter grow
     To see the bending corn
Stoop, like a band of worshippers,
     To greet the rising morn!
The maiden's cheek will wear a hue
     More healthy in the sun,
While counting beads of luscious corn
     The dark-eyed harvest nun!
The old man with his snowy locks,
     White as the winter's zone,
Bends on his knee and thanks our God
     In reverential tone.
Children will leap and laugh and lie
     Upon the greener grass,
And shade their sunnier eyes of love
     While argosies do pass--
The argosies of mellow corn,
     On rivers and on seas;
These are our glorious coat of arms--
     We conquer Worlds with these.
Nature herself doth take a smile
     When unto her are born
(To feed her starving million men)
     So many grains of corn.
The ill-“Fed” serfs of Cotton King
     Fall down in conscious shame,
And glorious paeans loudly sing
     Unto the Rescuer's name.
All tongues, all nations, will be glad
     When corn has come to reign,
To spread his banners o'er the earth
     In peace and love again!
And I, forsooth, this simple hymn
     Give to my real King;
May fortune shield both him and me
     Beneath the Union wing.