[23857]
To
Mrs. Saml. Paul Robinson.
(oF Philadelphia.)
"Kiss me[,] Mother[,] ere I'm dead" 
[23 Sep 1863; 8 Nov 1868]
BALLAD
(with Chorus ad libitum)
Written by
G. W. S.
Music composed by
M[athius]. KELLER.
New York, NY: Wm. A. POND & CO., 547 Broadway.
Boston: O. DITSON & CO.
Chicago: ROOT & CADY.
Montreal: BOUCHER & MANSEAU.
Detroit: J. H. WHITTEMORE.
Pittsburgh: H. KLEBER & BRO.
[660]
[COPYRIGHT
Nov 8 1868
LIBRARY]
[M 1640
  .K]
[Sept 23, 1863]
[Plate no.] 5645
]Engraver:] Clayton.
[Source: civilwardigital.com]

1. Is that Mother, bending o’er me,
As she sang my cradle bymn—
Kneeling there in tears before me?
Say!— my sight is growing dim.
Comes she from the old home lowly,
Out among the Northern hills.
To her pet boy dying slowly
Of a soldier’s wounds and ills?

CHORUS [sung twice after each VERSE]
Hold your arms again around me,
Press again my aching head;
Sing the lullaby you sang me,—
Kiss me, Mother, ere I’m dead.

2. Mother! we have bravely battled—
Battled ’till the day was done,
While the leaden hailstorm rattled—
Man to man, and gun to gun;
But we fail’d, and I am dying,
Dying in my boyhood’s years,—
There— no weeping, selfdenying—
Noble deaths demand no tears!