I decided to get out of my room for a little while earlier today and walk around the State House grounds since I live all of a 10 minute walk away. As I was walking, I read all of the inscriptions on the monuments I read. This was inscribed on the monument to the soldiers of South Carolina that died in the War Between the States. This isn't something I wrote and it isn't technically poetry, but it really touched me so I decided to post it.

Let the stranger,
Who may in future times
Read this inscription,
Recognize that these were men
Whom power could not corrupt,
Whom death could not terrify,
Whom defeat could not dishonor,
And let their virtues
Plead for just judgment
Of the cause in which the perished.
Let South Carolinians of another generation
Remember that the state taught them
How to live and how to die,
And that from her broken fortunes,
She has preserved for her children,
The priceless treasure of their memories;
Teaching all who may claim
The same birthright
That Truth, Courage and Patriotism
Endure Forever.