by Richard Baldwin Cook, great-nephew
You could have stayed and run your father’s store.
But John said, you’re not too young for the ranks.
Your Paw was pleased his boy would give what for,
To Abe who’d free the niggers with his yanks.
But John said, you’re not too young for the ranks.
Your Paw was pleased his boy would give what for,
To Abe who’d free the niggers with his yanks.
Oh! Willie, boy, why did you want to go?
Be nice, a rowdy summer n’Mississip?
At first light in your first fight at Shiloh,
A twelve pound ball took your leg at the hip.
Be nice, a rowdy summer n’Mississip?
At first light in your first fight at Shiloh,
A twelve pound ball took your leg at the hip.
Through gritted teeth you gave your one command.
By my dear Maw, you put me in the ground.
Sis’ Sue’s husband, a sound and loyal man,
Your casket sent home on a train he’d found.
Your pointless death, Willie, helped us to find,
The Cause you Lost so quick, lived in the mind.
The Cause you Lost so quick, lived in the mind.
This sonnet appears in SPLENDID LIVES and OTHERWISE: Sonnets of Remembrance (Nativa LLC 2011) available at Lulu.com
Copyright 2011, Richard Baldwin Cook
Drawing by artist Leah Fanning Mebane, fanningart.net
- from a Cook family photo
