"To One of the Brave" by Lucian B. Watkins

Though forty-five long years, you say, 
Have silvered o'er your head with gray, 
Your friends rejoice, to-day, that you 
Stand hale and hearty in your "blue."

Long for Old Glory you have stood
With truest sense of brotherhood; 
Long may you live a useful life—
Noble and true in peace of strife.

—Lucian B. Watkins