Duval Porter - Robert Edward Lee

Tho' Homor sings of Grecian Isles <br />In strains that every heart beguiles, <br />How warriors fought and heroes fell <br />For Helen, false and fickle belle; <br />Tho' France with martial joy may own <br />The greatest warrior world has known, <br />Let Albion proud as is her due, <br />Boast of decisive Waterloo - <br />And yet Virginia rightly claims <br />The greatest galaxy of names <br />In modern times, if not in all, <br />Names which for adoration call. <br />First, Henry, whose impassion'd zeal <br />And eloquence made others feel <br />The force of his resistless plea <br />For either death or liberty; <br />Then Washington, where can you trace <br />In annals of the human race <br />In any clime, a greater claim <br />To immortality and fame? <br /> <br />And still to-day Virginia gives <br />A name that now and ever lives; <br />As softening centuries come and go, <br />This name, will ever greater grow, <br />This name as moveless as the base <br />Of yonder mountain from its place. <br />The North, the South, the East, the West, <br />Alike will honor Lee, the best, <br />The highest, noblest type of man, <br />Yet genuine American. <br /> <br />In war a sword without a stain, <br />In peace so gently and humane <br />That hostile critics were disarm'd <br />And prais'd the man they would have harm'd. <br /> <br />Lee, an immortal, cannot die - <br />Fixed star in fame's eternal sky, <br />Where none will ever brighter be <br />Than name of Robert Edward Lee.<br /><br />Duval Porter<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/robert-edward-lee/