Suggestive programs for special day exercises/Memorial Day/Memorial Day

by Henry A. Lavely

MEMORIAL DAY.

 
We deck your graves with flowers today,
O comrades brave and true!
In token of the love we bear.
Our offerings round we strew.

Upon your country’s altar dear,
Your lives were freely paid—
In sacrifice to freedom’s cause,
The ransom price was paid!

The blessings which your ardor bought.
Breathe in the balmy May,
And hallow with a chastened glow
The grandeur of the day.

The halo which around you shines
Shall, as the years go by.
Add luster to the deeds which in
Our memories fondly lie.

We deck your graves with flowers today,
O comrades brave and true!
In token of the love we bear,
Our offerings round we strew.

—Henry A. Lavely.