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 | The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder |  |
“WHEN WITH THEIR COUNTRY'S ANGER”
When with their country's anger
They flame into the fight,—
On sea, in treacherous forest,
To strike with main and might,—
They flame into the fight,—
On sea, in treacherous forest,
To strike with main and might,—
He shows the gentlest mercy
Who rains the deadliest blows;
Then quick war's hell is ended,
And home the hero goes.
Who rains the deadliest blows;
Then quick war's hell is ended,
And home the hero goes.
274
What stays the noblest memory
For all his years to keep?
Not of the foemen slaughtered,
But rescued from the deep!
For all his years to keep?
Not of the foemen slaughtered,
But rescued from the deep!
Rescued with peerless daring!
O, none shall forget that sight,
When the unaimed cannon thundered
In the ghastly after-fight.
O, none shall forget that sight,
When the unaimed cannon thundered
In the ghastly after-fight.
And, now, in the breast of the hero
There blooms a strange, new flower,
A blood-red, fragrant blossom
Sown in the battle-hour.
There blooms a strange, new flower,
A blood-red, fragrant blossom
Sown in the battle-hour.
'T is not the Love of Comrades,—
That flower forever blows,—
But the brave man's Love of Courage,
The Love of Comrade-Foes.
That flower forever blows,—
But the brave man's Love of Courage,
The Love of Comrade-Foes.
For since the beginning of battles
On the land and on the wave,
Heroes have answered to heroes,
The brave have honored the brave.
On the land and on the wave,
Heroes have answered to heroes,
The brave have honored the brave.
1898.
| The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder | |