 | In Classic Shades and other poems |  |
100
GRANT AT SHILOH.
The blue and the gray! Their work was well done!
They lay as to listen to the waters flow.
Some lay with their faces upturned to the sun,
As seeking to know what the gods might know.
Their work was well done, each soldier was true.
But what is the question that comes to you?
They lay as to listen to the waters flow.
Some lay with their faces upturned to the sun,
As seeking to know what the gods might know.
Their work was well done, each soldier was true.
But what is the question that comes to you?
For all that men do, for all that men dare,
That river still runs with its stateliest flow.
The sun and the moon I scarcely think care
A fig for the fallen, of friend or of foe.
But the moss-mantled cypress, the old soldiers say,
Still mantles in smoke of that battle day!
That river still runs with its stateliest flow.
The sun and the moon I scarcely think care
A fig for the fallen, of friend or of foe.
But the moss-mantled cypress, the old soldiers say,
Still mantles in smoke of that battle day!
These men in the dust! These pitiful dead!
The gray and the blue, the blue and the gray,
The headless trunk and the trunkless head;
The image of God in the gory clay!
And who was the bravest? Say, can you tell
If Death throws dice with a loaded shell?
The gray and the blue, the blue and the gray,
The headless trunk and the trunkless head;
The image of God in the gory clay!
And who was the bravest? Say, can you tell
If Death throws dice with a loaded shell?
| In Classic Shades and other poems | |