Aux armes donc pour la cause sacree;
De nos ayeux vengeons les saintes lois;
Nous sommes Sparte, invincible, eprouvee;
Que sa vertu preside a nos exploits!
Gilmore Simms’ poem is less a call to arms, and more a warm and affectionate tribute to a beloved land, noteworthy because it proves that even before the Confederacy was formed, the people of the South were united in her love. The second stanza is better than the first.
She is all fondness to her friends: to foes
She glows a thing of passion, strength and pride;
She feels no tremors when the danger’s nigh,
But the fight over, and the victory won,
How with strange fondness turns her loving eye