Drooped heavy o’er our early dead,
And homely garments, coarse and gray,
For orphans that must earn their bread!”
(We give the first two of the six verses.)
Other verses published in Later Lyrics under the title “April 19” commemorate the same event. They were evidently written in the first heat of indignation at the breaking out of the rebellion, yet her righteous wrath always gave way to a second thought, tenderer and more merciful than the first. We see this in the last verse of the “Battle Hymn” and in various other poems of hers. The opening verses of “April 19” are:
A spasm o’er my heart
Sweeps like a burning flood;
A sentence rings upon mine ears,
Avenge the guiltless blood!
Sit not in health and ease,