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 | The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer |  |
The din of conflict ceased;—on high
Dark clouds ascended from the main
As if to robe the vaulted sky
In mourning vesture for the slain
Who late with exultation heard
The soul-arousing signal word
Go up, when met the hostile ships,
In thunder from a thousand lips:
Who lately, prodigal of life,
Moved sharers in the gory strife,
While Havoc shook his wings of flame,
And Death, in terror shrouded, came.
No sheet, within its tarry fold,
Wraps mournfully their bodies cold;
Nor yew, nor solemn cypress throws
Sepulchral gloom where they repose.
For ever deaf to boatswain call
They sleep in Ocean's charnel-hall,
And monarch waters, in their might,
Above them roll with crowns of white.
No eye shed tributary tear
When darkly ended their career,
Nor were the brave “with dirges due”
Committed to the waters blue.
Far from the quiet hearths of home
The blood of sire and brother gave
Deep tints of crimson to the foam
That crested fearfully the wave.
Dark clouds ascended from the main
As if to robe the vaulted sky
In mourning vesture for the slain
Who late with exultation heard
The soul-arousing signal word
Go up, when met the hostile ships,
In thunder from a thousand lips:
Who lately, prodigal of life,
Moved sharers in the gory strife,
While Havoc shook his wings of flame,
And Death, in terror shrouded, came.
No sheet, within its tarry fold,
Wraps mournfully their bodies cold;
Nor yew, nor solemn cypress throws
Sepulchral gloom where they repose.
For ever deaf to boatswain call
They sleep in Ocean's charnel-hall,
And monarch waters, in their might,
Above them roll with crowns of white.
No eye shed tributary tear
When darkly ended their career,
Nor were the brave “with dirges due”
Committed to the waters blue.
Far from the quiet hearths of home
The blood of sire and brother gave
95
That crested fearfully the wave.
| The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer | |