Dr. Ticknor

.

The knightliest of the knightly race

That, since the days of old,

Have kept the lamp of chivalry

Alight in hearts of gold;

The kindliest of the kindly band

That, rarely hating ease,

Yet rode with Spotswood round the land,

And Raleigh round the seas.

.

Who climbed the blue Virginia hills

Against embattled foes,

And planted there in valleys fair,

The lily and the rose;

Whose fragrance lives in many lands,

Whose beauty stars the earth,

And lights the hearths of happy homes

With loveliness and worth.

 .

We thought they slept – the sons who kept

The names of noble sires,

And slumbered while the darkness crept

Around their vigil fires;

But aye, the “Golden Horseshoe Knights”

Their Old Dominion keep,

Whose foes have found enchanted ground,

But not a knight asleep.

.

From: Confederate Veteran Magazine, Volume IV Number 4, April 1897, Page 168