 | The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems |  |
166
REAL INCIDENTS. BLUE AND GREY.
December, 1865.
I.
‘THE only difference in your war,’
I heard a stranger say,
‘Is that one side is dressed in blue,
The other clad in grey.’
I heard a stranger say,
‘Is that one side is dressed in blue,
The other clad in grey.’
I went into a Federal camp,
I heard the soldiers cry:
‘Hurrah! there come the newspapers!’
And saw them rush to buy.
I heard the soldiers cry:
‘Hurrah! there come the newspapers!’
And saw them rush to buy.
I went along the Valley Road,
And met upon my way
Ten of Lee's straggling infantry,
All dressed in rebel grey.
And met upon my way
Ten of Lee's straggling infantry,
All dressed in rebel grey.
One held a proclamation out,
And as I stopped my steed,
Said: ‘Tell us what this paper says?
For none of us can read!’
And as I stopped my steed,
Said: ‘Tell us what this paper says?
For none of us can read!’
167
And I spoke out:—‘If you could read,
And find out what is true,
Instead of wearing Davis grey,
You'd bear the Lincoln blue.’
And find out what is true,
Instead of wearing Davis grey,
You'd bear the Lincoln blue.’
Grey is the colour of the dust
In which the serpent crawls,
And blue the hue of heaven, which looks
Down on earth's prison walls.
In which the serpent crawls,
And blue the hue of heaven, which looks
Down on earth's prison walls.
II.
ONE day, when I was on the march,
In Eighteen Sixty-three,
The very day when General Meade
Was driving General Lee
Before him out of Maryland,
With all his chivalry:
In Eighteen Sixty-three,
The very day when General Meade
Was driving General Lee
Before him out of Maryland,
With all his chivalry:
We passed a school-house on the road,
The benches scattered round;
But, ah! the scholars, where were they?
For no familiar sound
Of lessons conned, or pleasant play,
Was heard in all the bound.
The benches scattered round;
But, ah! the scholars, where were they?
For no familiar sound
Of lessons conned, or pleasant play,
Was heard in all the bound.
I entered, and I stood alone;
The troop went slowly by,
And fainter grew the captain's tone,
And faint the driver's cry;
The heavy cannon's clank and groan
Still lessened, passing further on,
Yet never seemed to die:—
Was it an echo all my own,
Or the wild brook running nigh?
The troop went slowly by,
And fainter grew the captain's tone,
And faint the driver's cry;
The heavy cannon's clank and groan
Still lessened, passing further on,
Yet never seemed to die:—
Was it an echo all my own,
Or the wild brook running nigh?
168
I looked around, and on the walls
I read in writing clear:
‘We've gained the day, we'll soon have all
The country far and near,’
Signed by a rebel officer,
A boasting cavalier.
I read in writing clear:
‘We've gained the day, we'll soon have all
The country far and near,’
Signed by a rebel officer,
A boasting cavalier.
Hodie tibi, cras mihi,
Beneath this vaunting strain,
‘To-day is thine, to-morrow mine,’
I wrote as clear and plain:
No doubt it pleased the schoolmaster
When he came back again!
Beneath this vaunting strain,
‘To-day is thine, to-morrow mine,’
I wrote as clear and plain:
No doubt it pleased the schoolmaster
When he came back again!
'Twixt Boonsboro' and Hagerstown
That log-hut school-house stands,
The writing still upon the wall:
But where are now the bands
Which swept so proudly up and down,
O'er all the border lands?–
Oh! whither went the stately house
Which stood upon the sands?
That log-hut school-house stands,
The writing still upon the wall:
But where are now the bands
Which swept so proudly up and down,
O'er all the border lands?–
Oh! whither went the stately house
Which stood upon the sands?
| The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems | |