The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose Now First Collected with a Prefatory Memoir by his Nephews W. E. and Sir Bartle Frere |
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LINES ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD
EDWARD FRERE.
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 | The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose |  |
LINES ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD EDWARD FRERE.
WRITTEN FOR A MONUMENT PROPOSED TO BE ERECTED BY HIS BROTHER OFFICERS.
In early youth, with a determined heart,I sought to study war's tremendous art;
Thence all that studious hours or busy thought,
Or rudimental discipline had taught,
To the true test of practice was applied,
For daily scenes of action proved and tried.
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I placed our colours on the citadel;
Thence other toils and hardships were essayed,
An unexampled siege and marches made
Twice to Cabool and homewards in a line
Of inexpugnable defiles—in fine,
We visited again that Indian flood
Improvidently passed, and gladly stood
In a secure and peaceable domain,
When a severer foe, disease and pain,
Approach'd, and in that hard assault I fell,
A soldier! having served and suffer'd well;
My duties all discharged, with a firm mind,
Tranquil and pure, and peaceably resigned,
My course is closed; and if I leave a name
Unregister'd upon the rolls of fame,
Still my kind comrades' care may make it known,
Recording on a monumental stone
A gentle, generous spirit like their own.
| The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose | |