 | War-lyrics and other poems |  |
59
A WAR STUDY.
Methinks, all idly and too well
We love this Nature—little care
(Whate'er her children brave and bear,)
Were hers, though any grief befell.
We love this Nature—little care
(Whate'er her children brave and bear,)
Were hers, though any grief befell.
With gayer sunshine still she seeks
To gild our trouble, so 'twould seem;
Through all this long, tremendous Dream,
A tear hath never wet her cheeks.
To gild our trouble, so 'twould seem;
Through all this long, tremendous Dream,
A tear hath never wet her cheeks.
And such a scene I call to mind—
The third day's thunder, (fort and fleet,
And the great guns beneath our feet,)
Was dying, and a warm gulf wind
The third day's thunder, (fort and fleet,
And the great guns beneath our feet,)
Was dying, and a warm gulf wind
Made monotone 'mid stays and shrouds:
O'er books and men in quiet chat
With the Great Admiral I sat,
Watching the lovely cannon-clouds.
O'er books and men in quiet chat
With the Great Admiral I sat,
Watching the lovely cannon-clouds.
For still, from mortar and from gun,
Or short-fused shell that burst aloft,
Outsprung a rose-wreath, bright and soft,
Tinged with the redly setting sun.
Or short-fused shell that burst aloft,
Outsprung a rose-wreath, bright and soft,
Tinged with the redly setting sun.
60
And I their beauty praised: but he,
The grand old Senior, strong and mild,
(Of head a sage, in heart a child,)
Sighed for the wreck that still must be.
The grand old Senior, strong and mild,
(Of head a sage, in heart a child,)
Sighed for the wreck that still must be.
Flag Ship Hartford, March, 1864.
| War-lyrics and other poems | |