Virginia. A Sonnet Poem by Margaret Junkin Preston

Grandly thou fillest the world's eye to-day,
My proud Virginia! When the gage was thrown--
The deadly gage of battle--thou, alone,
Strong in thy self-control, didst stoop to lay
The olive-branch thereon, and calmly pray
We might have peace, the rather. When the foe
Turned scornfully upon thee,--bade thee go,
And whistled up his war-hounds, then--the way
Of duty full before thee,--thou didst spring
Into the centre of the martial ring--
Thy brave blood boiling, and thy glorious eye,
Shot with heroic fire, and swear to claim
Sublimest victory in God's own name,--
Or, wrapped in robes of martyrdom,--to die!