Behold him in the ever-widening light
Of history! Thou can'st not apprehend
The delicate sense of his abandonment
Until thou hast perceived the laurelings
Of love, of prayer, and of adoring hope, —
The South's idolatry of expectation.

Before the State Convention of Virginia,
He stood, — having received from her, his Mother,
The sword which he should draw in her defense.

Within the circle of admiring peers
He stood, Commander of Virginia's troops,
Hearing proud words and humbly answering;
Hearing himself phrased like his foster-sire,
First of Virginia's living citizens
In war, in peace, and in the people's hearts.
'Tis said that fresh and ruddy he appeared
Like David from the sheepfolds, in the prime
Of manly beauty, the embodiment
Of proud heroic lines of ancestry,
No soldier rough, but with that courtly grace
Which ever marks the Southern Gentleman.

Thus did Virginia's favorite son begin
As Mighty Captain 'neath Secession's seal
Bearing the South's dependency and hope.