 | Poems of the war |  |
164
[Brave comrade, answer! When you joined the war]
Brave comrade, answer! When you joined the war,What left you? “Wife and children; wealth and friends,
A storied home whose ancient roof-tree bends
Above such thoughts as love tells o'er and o'er.”
Had you no pang or struggle? “Yes; I bore
Such pain on parting as at hell's gate rends
The entering soul, when from its grasp ascends
The last faint virtue which on earth it wore.”
You loved your home, your kindred, children, wife;
165
What urged you? “Duty! Something more than life.
That which made Abraham bare the priestly knife,
And Isaac kneel, or that young Hebrew girl
Who sought her father coming from the strife.”
| Poems of the war | |