23. the secession flag.
[Upon the proposition of the secessionists to adopt the stars and stripes for the flag of the Southern Confederacy, adding the crescent as the only change.] Unfurl not to the Southern breezeOur flag of glorious name,
Nor mar with heathenish device
The symbol of our fame!
Our stars and stripes o'er Freedom's grave--
Dissevered brotherhood--
Would bear the deep-dyed mark of Cain
Daguerreotyped in blood.
It ne'er again would thrill the heart
That quails before a foe,
Nor kindle in the patriot's breast
A warmer, brighter glow.
It ne'er would shield beneath its folds
Tha expatriate on the sea,
Nor call from Heaven, by mute appeal,
A blessing on the free.
But, as the prostrate soldier, slain
Upon the battle-field,
Clasps with convulsive grasp the hilt,
Despoil'd the power to wield--
In lifeless folds, Columbia's flag
Would tell no nation's story;
Awake no harmonies divine,
Of a whole nation's glory.
Thus, as the ark of God of old,
Let forth by traitor hands,
Stay'd not the curse of dire defeat
To Israel's chosen bands--
[16] Its hovering cloud — Jehovah's pledg--
Had rolled itself away;
The empty symbol failed to prove
A wicked people's stay.
So would that constellation strange
Those wand'ring stars unite,
Themselves in magic form arrange,
And “Ichabod” would write.
Josephine Morss. February 22, 1861. --Evening Post.
