The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1847-07-09
aDortital.
voT ON rms BAFrLG FIELD,

W JouS SIERPoISr.
aro mn on tl~ hattie aed. sighting or NV dear country
tai would 10, tc hafd,"-Tl, EerAbsrs.
o no, uo-let nc lie
No,o or 3 held Of battle, whom | die
Letnot The non tread
0fthe mad warhorse crush my hclmed head.
Norierr the reeking knife,
Thai ! have drawn against a brothers life,
Be IN my hand when Death
Thunders along. and tramples me beneath
His heavy squadron's heels,
Or CORY telloes of his cannon's wheels.
From such a dying bed,
Thodgh Ger it float the stripes o fwhite and red,
And tue bald eagle brings
The clustered stars upon his widespread wings,
To sparkle in my sight,
o, never let my spirit take her fight
know that Beanty's eye
Is all the brighter where gay p%ennants fly,
And brazen helmets dance,
And sunshine flashes on the lifted lance;
know that bards have sung,
And people shouted till tho welkin runs,
In honor of the brave
Who OH the battle field have won a grave;
know that DER their bones
Have grateful hands piled monumental stones
Some ofthese piles I've seen:
The one at Lexington. upon the green
Where the first bloud was shed
That to the country's independence ledi
And others, on our shore
The Battle Monument AT Baltimore,
And that on Bunker's Hill.
Aye, and abroad, a few more famous still:
Thy Tomb" Themistocles,
That looks out yet upon the Greclan 7ens,
And which the waters kiss
That issue from the gulf OF Salamis
And thine, too, have | seen,
Thy mound of earth, Patroclus, robed in green
That, like a natural knoll,
Sheep clint and nimble over ms they stroll,
Watched by some turban'd boy,
Upon the margin oil the plain OF Troy.
Such honors grace the bed
know, wheroon the warrior lays hs head,
Aud hears Ms life Gibbs ont,
The conquered ilying,and the conqueroi's siou
But as his eyes grow dim,
What is a column or a mound TO hint
What, TO the parting sonl
The mellow note Of buglesl What the roll
Of drumSl No: lot ne die.
Where tho blue heaven bends o'cr me lovingly
Anu tlo FOll summer hli,
Aslt goes by me, stirs my thin white hair,
And from my forehead dries
The death-damp as it gathers, aud the shies
Seem waiting 10 receive
My soul 10 their clcar depth! Or let me leay,
The world wien round my bed
Wife, children, weeping friends ARE gathered,
Aud the cllm voice Of prayer
And holy hymuing shall my soul prepare
To 60 and be al resi-
With kind spirils-spirits that have blessed
Tho hunnn brotherhood,
By laEors, carcs, and cOunsels Tor their good
Aud in my dying hour,
When riches, fame and honor laye no power
TO bear the spirit up,
Or from my lips to turn asile the cup
That all must drink At last;
q let me draw roIreshment from the past!
Then let my soul run back,
With peace and joy along my earthly track
Aud sea that all the seeds,
Thai I have scattered there. in virtues deed
Have sprung up, md have given,
Already, fruits ofwhicli to taste in heaven!
And thouglino grassy mound
Or granite pile says It's heroic ground
Where my remains repose,
Still v,ilrI hope-vaiu hope, perhaps! that tho
Whom ! have %strivcn To bless.
The wanderer reclaimed, the tlthcrless,
May stand around my grave,
With tue poor prisoner, and the poorer slave,
And breathe an humble prayer.
That they may die like him whose bones n
m0ulderihg there.