 | The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard |  |
COLONEL FREDERICK TAYLOR.
(Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.)
Many the ways that lead to death, but fewGrandly, and only one is glory's gate,
Standing wherever freemen dare their fate,
Determined, as thou wert, to die—or do.
This hast thou passed, young Soldier, storming through
The fiery darkness round it, not too late
To know the invaders beaten from thy State,
Ah, why too soon to rout them and pursue?
But some must fall as thou hast fallen; some
Remain to fight and fall another day:
And some go down in peace to their long rest.
If 't were not now, it would be still to come,
And whether now, or when thy hairs were gray,
Were fittest for thee, God alone knows best.
| The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard | |