Decoration Poem

Gather them out of the valley --
Bring them from moorland and hill,
And cast them in wreaths and in garlands.
On the city so silent and still --
So voiceless, so silent, and still;
Where neighbor speaks never to neighbor,
Where the song of the bird, and the brown bee is heard,
But never the harsh sounds of labor.

Bring them from woodland and meadow --
As fresh, and as fair, as can be.
Bring them, all kinds, and all colors.
That grow upon upland and lea --
That spring in wild grace on the lea.
And rifle the green earth's warm bosom
Of each flower, and blow, till "God's acre" shall glow
And bloom, like a garden in blossom.