| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 447. Decoration |
| | | “Manibus o Date Lilia Plenis” |
| | | By Thomas Wentworth Higginson |
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| MID the flower-wreathed tombs I stand | |
| Bearing lilies in my hand. | |
| Comrades! in what soldier-grave | |
| Sleeps the bravest of the brave? | |
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| Is it he who sank to rest | 5 |
| With his colors round his breast? | |
| Friendship makes his tomb a shrine; | |
| Garlands veil it: ask not mine. | |
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| One low grave, yon trees beneath, | |
| Bears no roses, wears no wreath; | 10 |
| Yet no heart more high and warm | |
| Ever dared the battle-storm, | |
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| Never gleamed a prouder eye | |
| In the front of victory, | |
| Never foot had firmer tread | 15 |
| On the field where hope lay dead, | |
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| Then are hid within this tomb, | |
| Where the untended grasses bloom, | |
| And no stone, with feigned distress, | |
| Mocks the sacred loneliness. | 20 |
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| Youth and beauty, dauntless will, | |
| Dreams that life could ne’er fulfil, | |
| Here lie buried; here in peace | |
| Wrongs and woes have found release. | |
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| Turning from my comrades’ eyes, | 25 |
| Kneeling where a woman lies, | |
| I strew lilies on the grave | |
| Of the bravest of the brave. | |
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