Pelham
by James Ryder Randall
Just as the Spring came laughing through the strife, With all its gorgeous cheer; In the bright April of historic life, Fell the great cannoneer.
A wondrous lulling of a hero's breath, His bleeding country weeps; Hushed in the alabaster arms of Death, Our young Marcellus sleeps.
Nobler and grander than the Child of Rome, Curbing his chariot steeds; The knightly scion of a Southern home, Dazzled the land with deeds.
Gentlest and bravest in the battle's brunt, The Champion of the Truth; He won his banner in the very front Of our immortal youth.
A clang of sabres 'mid Virginian snow, The fiery pang of shells— And there's a wail of immemorial woe In Alabama dells.
The pennon droops that led the sacred band Along the crimson field; The meteor blade sinks from the nerveless hand Over the spotless shield.
We gazed and gazed upon that beauteous face, While 'round the lips and eyes, Couched in their marble slumber, flashed the grace Of a divine surprise.
O Mother of a blessed soul on high! Thy tears may soon be shed— Think of thy boy with princes of the sky, Among the Southern Dead.
How must he smile on this dull world beneath, Favored with swift renown; He with the martyr's amaranthine wreath Twining the victor's crown!
Matthew Page Andrews, M.A., Randall's literary executor, in his 1910 collection, The Poems of James Ryder Randall says this about Pelham:
This is the one poem of Randall's, other than My Maryland, with which the average reader is familiar. This may be due to Stedman's reputed fondness for it, especially for the seventh stanza. It is certain that it is one of the very few of Randall's poems secured for publication in collections of American verse. Hence it has appeared in many volumes as one of the purest elegies brought out by the Civil War. The poet literally “gazed and gazed upon that beauteous face” when taken to its final resting place in distant Alabama. Pelham was one of six sons serving in the Southern Confederacy. He met his death on the banks of the Rappahannock, March 17, 1863. Robert E. Lee referred feelingly to the dashing youth as “the gallant Pelham.”
Marcellus: — the promising stepson of Augustus, inspired Virgil's tribute in the closing passage of the Sixth Æneid;.
Pelham, Maryland, My Maryland and Other Poems, by James Ryder Randall, 1908, Page 20. (PDF)