 | Historical Odes and Other Poems |  |
67
Havelock's March.
They were but a thousand strong; they marched
Through a hundred thousand mutinous foes;
O'er a hundred leagues of desert parched,
Where sunstroke falls, and the Simoon blows:
They were but a thousand strong.
Through a hundred thousand mutinous foes;
O'er a hundred leagues of desert parched,
Where sunstroke falls, and the Simoon blows:
They were but a thousand strong.
They were but a thousand; fate denied
That more should meet our utter need;
And as they died, the few supplied
Did never make the force exceed
In number a thousand strong.
That more should meet our utter need;
And as they died, the few supplied
Did never make the force exceed
In number a thousand strong.
Many a mile they onward passed
Through swampy grass and field of dall,
By mangoe grove, through jungle vast,
And the squalid huts of the villages small:
They were but a thousand strong.
Through swampy grass and field of dall,
By mangoe grove, through jungle vast,
And the squalid huts of the villages small:
They were but a thousand strong.
68
And every day they fought the foe,
And beat him backward many a mile;
Till their name grew bright and terrible, so
That the brave world everywhere did smile
With joy at the thousand strong.
And beat him backward many a mile;
Till their name grew bright and terrible, so
That the brave world everywhere did smile
With joy at the thousand strong.
And so at last they reached Cawnpore,
Where the bloody Nana was lying then;
Who stood to try one battle more
For the possession of his den
Against but a thousand strong.
Where the bloody Nana was lying then;
Who stood to try one battle more
For the possession of his den
Against but a thousand strong.
And many a gun he laid in train
To sweep along our serried ranks;
His foot entrenched lay on the plain,
His horsemen clustered on his flanks
Against but a thousand strong.
To sweep along our serried ranks;
His foot entrenched lay on the plain,
His horsemen clustered on his flanks
Against but a thousand strong.
Through reeling heat-mists of the noon
The tottering force to battle pants,
And sees through the threaded forest soon
The spectral camels and elephants,
Where they wait our thousand strong.
The tottering force to battle pants,
And sees through the threaded forest soon
The spectral camels and elephants,
Where they wait our thousand strong.
They move in life as we draw nigh,
The gorgeous eastern plumage shakes,
The tulwahs flash, the banners fly,
At once the imaged battle wakes
Against but a thousand strong.
The gorgeous eastern plumage shakes,
The tulwahs flash, the banners fly,
At once the imaged battle wakes
Against but a thousand strong.
69
The sowars charged in boiling waves,
Their faces black neath turbans white;
The sepoys plied their guns like slaves
Beneath their bloody tyrant's sight,
Who dreaded a thousand strong.
Their faces black neath turbans white;
The sepoys plied their guns like slaves
Beneath their bloody tyrant's sight,
Who dreaded a thousand strong.
Their rapid volleys fell like hail;
In copse and tope they make their stand;
In vain, in vain;—they nought avail
When England meets them brand to brand,
And charges, a thousand strong.
In copse and tope they make their stand;
In vain, in vain;—they nought avail
When England meets them brand to brand,
And charges, a thousand strong.
On rolled the cloud of the Fusiliers,
The bayonet points gleamed sharp behind,
Like the thunder cloud and the lightning spears,
O'er the deadly open they sped like wind
With the rush of a thousand strong.
The bayonet points gleamed sharp behind,
Like the thunder cloud and the lightning spears,
O'er the deadly open they sped like wind
With the rush of a thousand strong.
The gunner fled from his reeking gun,
The horseman turned his bridle rein;
The cowards feared their coming on,
They shuddered at the pibroch strain,
And the cheer of a thousand strong.
The horseman turned his bridle rein;
The cowards feared their coming on,
They shuddered at the pibroch strain,
And the cheer of a thousand strong.
The day was won; but woe the sight
That turned the victor's eye to gloom;
The station in its bloody plight,
The witness of a bloody doom.
Oh, the sobs of a thousand strong!
That turned the victor's eye to gloom;
The station in its bloody plight,
The witness of a bloody doom.
Oh, the sobs of a thousand strong!
70
They came to seek the living there;
They found the dead all freshly slain,
The shambles foul with blood and hair,
The well which choking corpses stain:
Too late were the thousand strong.
They found the dead all freshly slain,
The shambles foul with blood and hair,
The well which choking corpses stain:
Too late were the thousand strong.
Then wept the iron men who ne'er
Had shrunk from peril of the foe;
While through the night with saddened eare
The burial trains with torches go
In sight of the thousand strong.
Had shrunk from peril of the foe;
While through the night with saddened eare
The burial trains with torches go
In sight of the thousand strong.
The dead they buried out of sight,
A vengeful oath they deeply swore;
They manned their ranks, and sternly bright
Wound from the station of Cawnpore
On the march of a thousand strong.
A vengeful oath they deeply swore;
They manned their ranks, and sternly bright
Wound from the station of Cawnpore
On the march of a thousand strong.
Into the country deep they plunge,
O'er the wide river into Oude,
O'er the thrice-fought field of Busserutgunge
They thrice their desperate path renewed
On the march of a thousand strong.
O'er the wide river into Oude,
O'er the thrice-fought field of Busserutgunge
They thrice their desperate path renewed
On the march of a thousand strong.
At length above the level waste
They saw fair Lucknow's towers arise;
Where still was England's lion raised,
Though forty thousand enemies
Awaited a thousand strong.
They saw fair Lucknow's towers arise;
Where still was England's lion raised,
Though forty thousand enemies
Awaited a thousand strong.
71
They broke their way through the Alumbagh,
And nought withstood their fierce assault;
The Charbagh trembled with the war;
From street to street the banners vault
In the rush of a thousand strong.
And nought withstood their fierce assault;
The Charbagh trembled with the war;
From street to street the banners vault
In the rush of a thousand strong.
Havelock leads them, Outram leads,
True knight and noble general;
Their arm restrains, their bright steel speeds,
Their voice is as the trumpet's call
At the head of a thousand strong.
True knight and noble general;
Their arm restrains, their bright steel speeds,
Their voice is as the trumpet's call
At the head of a thousand strong.
The goal they sought was far aloof,
Deep pitfalls seamed their narrow road,
Thick poured the shot from wall and roof,
The sun's dread arrows went abroad:
On, on rushed the thousand strong.
Deep pitfalls seamed their narrow road,
Thick poured the shot from wall and roof,
The sun's dread arrows went abroad:
On, on rushed the thousand strong.
Then Neil, the lion-hearted, fell;
No greater name, nor more revered;
But Maude his battering guns plied well,
And still the levelled bayonets cleared
The path of the thousand strong.
No greater name, nor more revered;
But Maude his battering guns plied well,
And still the levelled bayonets cleared
The path of the thousand strong.
'Tis o'er: the straitened garrison
From darksome countermine hath sprung,
From rending bastion, reeking gun;
While sobs, the rescued ones among,
Each man of the thousand strong.
From darksome countermine hath sprung,
From rending bastion, reeking gun;
While sobs, the rescued ones among,
Each man of the thousand strong.
72
Ah, who shall tell the meeting when
The glorious deed was all achieved:
English women, babes, and men,
From death and more than death reprieved,—
These greeted the thousand strong.
The glorious deed was all achieved:
English women, babes, and men,
From death and more than death reprieved,—
These greeted the thousand strong.
Havelock, noble dying chief,
Thy triumph and thy grave were here:
Thy triumph swift, thy days were brief;
Cold sunk the hero on his bier,
The chief of a thousand strong.
Thy triumph and thy grave were here:
Thy triumph swift, thy days were brief;
Cold sunk the hero on his bier,
The chief of a thousand strong.
Refused his feeble frame to blench,
While toil or peril was to do;
The work achieved the flame did quench;
No more sufficed the brave, the true,
The chief of a thousand strong.
While toil or peril was to do;
The work achieved the flame did quench;
No more sufficed the brave, the true,
The chief of a thousand strong.
They buried him where evermore
His glory might behold his grave;
Who won the crown, the cross who bore;
The oriental trees o'erwave
The chief of a thousand strong.
His glory might behold his grave;
Who won the crown, the cross who bore;
The oriental trees o'erwave
The chief of a thousand strong.
Havelock, nobler name than thine
Not anywhere does England own:
Patience and virtue both entwine
Thy lowly grave so far and lone,
Great chief of a thousand strong.
Not anywhere does England own:
Patience and virtue both entwine
Thy lowly grave so far and lone,
Great chief of a thousand strong.
73
We rear the monumental shrine,
A nation's heart such homage craved;
But nobler monuments are thine,
The shattered foe, the city saved,
The tears of a thousand strong.
A nation's heart such homage craved;
But nobler monuments are thine,
The shattered foe, the city saved,
The tears of a thousand strong.
Havelock, nobler name than thine
Doth storied England nowhere own;
Patience and virtue intertwine
Around thy grave so far and lone,
Chief, chief of a thousand strong.
Doth storied England nowhere own;
Patience and virtue intertwine
Around thy grave so far and lone,
Chief, chief of a thousand strong.
| Historical Odes and Other Poems | |