Original Songs (1861) :: :: University of Virginia Library

Oft shall I think of thee,
Wheresoever I may be,
And thy image to my mind shall still recall,
And the tear upon thy cheek,
And the words thou last didst speak;
For memory, when away, will still remember all.

II

And wherever I may go,
To wage battle with the foe,
Thy picture will be present to my mind,
The stile by which we stood,
The green opening in the wood,
Where I saw thy fair form vanish when last I looked behind.

III

Then grieve not at my stay,
But still think me on the way,
Returning, love, to meet thee once again;
It will be with victory crown'd,
Though with bandages I'm bound,
Or thou wilt hear I'm sleeping, my love, amid the slain.

IV

Thy treasured lock of hair
On my heart I ever wear,
And shall do till I lead thee home my bride.
Oh! could the foeman see
The dear form that gave it me,
He would never touch his trigger, lest that tress he might divide.

V

Thou hast told me, love, that all
Who for their country fall
The white-wing'd angels softly bear away,
And that thou soon wilt come
To the star-paved, heavenly home,
Where, if I fall in battle, I shall for thy coming stay.

T. M.