I do not know beneath what sky Nor on what seas shall be thy fate; I only know it shall be great. Richard Hovey [1864-1900] ON A SOLDIER FALLEN IN THE PHILIPPINES STREETS of the roaring town, Hush for him, hush, be still! He comes, who was stricken down Doing the word of our will. Hush! Let him have his state. Give him his soldier's crown, The grists of trade can wait Their grinding at the mill, But he cannot wait for his honor, now the trumpet has been blown. Wreathe pride now for his granite brow, lay love on his breast of stone. Toll! Let the great bells toll Toll! Let him never guess What work we set him to. Laurel, laurel, yes; He did what we bade him do. Praise, and never a whispered hint but the fight he fought was good; Never a word that the blood on his sword was his country's own heart's-blood. A flag for the soldier's bier Who dies that his land may live; O, banners, banners here, That he doubt not nor misgive! That he heed not from the tomb The evil days draw near When the nation, robed in gloom, With its faithless past shall strive. Let him never dream that his bullet's scream went wide of its island mark, Home to the heart of his darling land where she stumbled and sinned in the dark. William Vaughn Moody [1869-1910] AN ODE IN TIME OF HESITATION WRITTEN AFTER SEEING AT BOSTON THE STATUE OF ROBERT GOULD SHAW, KILLED WHILE STORMING FORT WAGNER, JULY 18, 1863, AT THE HEAD OF THE FIRST ENLISTED NEGRO REGIMENT, THE 54th MASSACHUSETTS I BEFORE the solemn bronze Saint Gaudens made To thrill the heedless passer's heart with awe, To the good memory of Robert Shaw, This bright March morn I stand, And hear the distant spring come up the land; Of this boy soldier and his negro band, For all the fatal rhythm of their tread. The land they died to save from death and shame II Through street and mall the tides of people go Assurance of her jubilant emprise, And it is clear to my long-searching eyes That love at last has might upon the skies. A telltale patter drips from off the trees; Or had its will among the fruits and vines Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. III Soon shall the Cape Ann children shout in glee, The Lakes shall robe them in ethereal sheen; Of springing wheat shall vastly be outflung On Arizonan mesas shall be done For flutter of broad phylacteries; While Shasta signals to Alaskan seas That watch old sluggish glaciers downward creep To fling their icebergs thundering from the steep, And Mariposa through the purple calms A rich seal on the ocean's bosom set To say that East and West are twain, With different loss and gain: The Lord hath sundered them; let them be sundered yet. IV Alas! what sounds are these that come Sounds of ignoble battle, striking dumb Now when my heart hath need of pride? Wild love falls on me from these sculptured men; By loving much the land for which they died I would be justified. My spirit was away on pinions wide To soothe in praise of her its passionate mood Too sorely heavy is the debt they lay I would remember now My country's goodliness, make sweet her name. Alas! what shade art thou Of sorrow or of blame Liftest the lyric leafage from her brow, And pointest a slow finger at her shame? V Lies! lies! It cannot be! The wars we wage By justice for us, ere we lift the gage. Her forehead weareth yet its solemn star. Here is her witness: this, her perfect son, This delicate and proud New England soul VI Crouched in the sea fog on the moaning sand And lo, the shard the potter cast away Was grown a fiery chalice, crystal-fine, Fulfilled of the divine Great wine of battle wrath by God's ring-finger stirred. Huge on the mountain in the wet sea light, To flush the mountain laurel when she blows Sweet by the southern sea, And heart with crumpled heart climbs in the rose:- This mountain fortress for no earthly hold Of temporal quarrel, but the bastion old Of spiritual wrong, Built by an unjust nation sheer and strong, |