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134
CUSTER.
(July, 1876.)
Well had he won the honoring love we gave
His resolute martial heart, to fear unknown,
Now lying at rest within his distant grave
Beside the myriad-cañoned Yellowstone.
His resolute martial heart, to fear unknown,
Now lying at rest within his distant grave
Beside the myriad-cañoned Yellowstone.
A spirit of splendid nerve to coolly dare;
Stern as an enemy, as a friend most true,
Impetuous, haughty, gallant, debonair;
Now fierce as fire and now as soft as dew,
Stern as an enemy, as a friend most true,
Impetuous, haughty, gallant, debonair;
Now fierce as fire and now as soft as dew,
In this adventurous life did we behold,
Translated to those perilous lands afar,
The prowess of some new D'Artagnan, the bold
Invincibility of some new Bayard!
Translated to those perilous lands afar,
The prowess of some new D'Artagnan, the bold
Invincibility of some new Bayard!
May the rich picture that his memory leaves
Light history's page for many an unborn year,
While many an unborn soldier proudly weaves
Fresh laurels for this valorous cavalier!
Light history's page for many an unborn year,
While many an unborn soldier proudly weaves
Fresh laurels for this valorous cavalier!
Time the sweet radiance of his fame shall prove,
And, while the unmeasured future flows along,
His sinewy figure, buckskin-clad, shall move
Down glimmering paths of story and of song!
And, while the unmeasured future flows along,
His sinewy figure, buckskin-clad, shall move
Down glimmering paths of story and of song!
For horror thrills through every class and clan
When wrong so riots in victory, and when
One in such eminent lordliness a man
Lies ruined by these red mockeries of men!
When wrong so riots in victory, and when
One in such eminent lordliness a man
Lies ruined by these red mockeries of men!
135
So from thy sorrowing country thou shalt win
Rank beside all her loyalest and her best,
Thou new Leonidas, with thy noble kin,
Dead in that wild Thermopylæ of the West!
Rank beside all her loyalest and her best,
Thou new Leonidas, with thy noble kin,
Dead in that wild Thermopylæ of the West!
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