Southern ships and Southern sails,
Southern seas and southern gales,
Southern dreams and Southern crosses,
Southern blood and Southern losses.
Southern hopes forever flaunted --
Gone the Southland, loved and wanted --
Gone forever, never doubt it:
Poor indeed are we without it.
Fare well Dixie, Grand Creation.
She is to me a last obsession,
Fading with the march of time.
Author notes
I wrote this in English class in 1961 as part of a dueling poem between a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier. It's the Southern viewpoint. Both poems are posted here under the title "The Ballad of North And South".
What did you think?
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
-
Wonderful, I wish I knew more about the theme. It felt like a song to me it flowed so well and I had no problem at all with "Fare well Dixie" creation or obsession. it just... was Right
-
-
If you are interested in reading ...
there's a book called "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come", which will give you a good background on what I was talking about when I wrote this. I had just read the book a week previously, and we were studying the Civil War.
-
-
Excellent
I would not change it either (re. earlier Comments), and I abhor Free Verse! There is a lot of a certain spirit caught in here.
-
Aside salvery, there was a lifestyle refined and distinctions to be admired. This is a wonderful lyrical tribute to our southland.
-
Outstanding
This is an intriguing poem and one that seems to capture history as if it happened yesterday. I liked the repetition at the beginning and the rhyme is strong throughout. Simply brilliant.
-
beautiful and beautifully true. I loved it.
-
Brilliant...
...until the last 3 lines, where you switch to free verse and spoil it.
I love the rhymed image of Southern crosses indicating Southern losses.
Couldn't you have finished :-
Farwell (all 1 word) Dixie Grand creation
Farewell from the conflagration
Farewell from a saddened nation
On another note, it wasn't really "farewell" to the South after the war was it - though I suppose a Yank would be more qualified to answer this than a Tommy?
Regards,
Robin
-
-
Well ...
it was written from the viewpoint of a Confederate soldier, of course. It was meant to be farewell to the dream or the "cause" as they called it.
Sorry you didn't like the last 3 lines. Of course I was only 16 years old when I wrote it, but I haven't ever felt the need to change anything.
-
-
a history bygone
true as said, the Southern belle has sung her swan song,
colorful and mystery in faded tales ..
Ghosts lament under weeping willows now..and old
white mansions trapped in vines and wailing winds ..
grays and whites ....cotton fields and indigo...
-
This covers every aspect almost of the history coveted in the southern region in a bygone era well. Very masterly scribed verse dear Poet! This one has to have been published somewhere? It well should of been anyway.
Adding your comment:
1 - 10 of 10
