The Old Guard/Volume 1/Issue 1/Acrostic

       Grant that thy wisdom’s mantle yet may fall
          Encircling some brave soul with saving might;
       Or that, in answer to a nation’s call,
          Reason may dawn and yet disperse the night.
       Grant that thy sacred heritage yet may be
       Eternal—Union, Peace and Liberty.

       Would thou were’t here—Sage, Hero of thy time,
          Among dissensions, and 'midst treasons rife.
       Secession standing in the ranks of Crime,
          Her nervous sons all maddened in the strife.
       In her dark train Disunion comes—
          North against South in fierce array.
       Grant from our altars and our homes
          This treacherous storm may pass away.
       Oh, save thy country, if thy spirit can,
       Nor leave its memory to the sneers of man.