Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-11-24
POETRY.
From GrGhdn''s Magazine.
The Battle of Life.
NY ANNE c. LYNCH.

There are countless fields, the green earth
DER, =,
Where the verdant turf has been dyed with
gore;
Where hostile ranks, In their grim array,
With the battles smoke have obscured the
Where hs,e was stamped on each rigid face,
AZ foo me, foe in the death embracei
Where the groans Of tue wounded and dying
rose
Till the heart Of the listener with horror froSe,
And the wide expanse Of crlmsoned p'a'n
Was piled with heaps of uncounied slain
But a fercer combat, n dratlieI STREE
10 ,ha, which is waved in the Battle Of Life.
The hero that wars on the tented held .,
With his shining sword and his FURNISHED
shield,
Goes not alone with his faithful brandt;
Friends and comrades around him stand
;rha ,Tnmnets sound and the war-steeds neigh
To ioin in the shock Of the coming ray;
And he flies 10 the onset, he charges the ioe'
Where the bsyonets CLEAN aud the red tides
flow,
And he bears his part in that conflict dlro
With an arm all nerve and a heart all fire.
Nv mat lnOuRU IC MI ~ ~
In the flush of the victory won, he goes
With martial music-and waving plume
From a field of fame-lo a laureled tomb!
But the hero that wars in the Battle OF Life
Must stand alone in the fearful strife;
Alone in his weakness or strength must Co.
Hero or coward, TO meet the foe;
He may not fly on that fated field
He must win or lose, he must conquer or
yield.
Warrior-who com'st to this battle now,
With a careless step and Il thoughiless brow,
As if the day were already won
Pause, and giro all thy armor on!
Dost thou bring with thee hither a dauntIeeS
will
An ardent soul that no fear can chill
Thy shield Of faith hast thou Iried ana pro
we'd
Canst thou saw to the mountain "be thou
In ,hy hand does the sword Of Truth fame
Is Inv banner inscribed-"F For God and the
Right
In the might Of prayer dost thou wres'le ana
plead
Never had warrior greater need!
Unseen foes in thy pathway hide,
Thou art encompassed on every side,
There Pleasure waits with her syren train,
Her poison flowers and her hidden chain;
Flattery courts with her hollow smiles,
Passion with %silvery tone beguiles,
Love and Friendship their charmed spells
weave;
Trust not 200 deeply-they may deceive!
Hope with her Dead Sea fruits is there,
Sin is spreading her gilded snare,
4, 4. .at Ia1a hand xUnnlh smile.
And Care spread DER thee her whitening
blight.
Hate and Envy, with visage black,
And the serpent SANDER, are on thy track;
Falsehood and Guilt, Remorse and Pride,
Doubt and Despair, in thy pathway glide;
Hagpard Want, in her demon Joy,
Waits to degrade thee and then destroy;
And Death, the insatla,e, Is lowering near
To snatch from thy grasp all thou hoIdest
dear.
In war with these phantoms that grid thee
round.
No limbs discovered may s,rew the ground
No blood may flow, and no mortal ear
The groans Of the wounded heart may hear
AS il struggles and wriihes in their drea'
control,
AS the iron enters the riven soul.
But the youthful form grows wasted an
weak,
And sunken and wan is the rounded cheek,
The brow is furrowed, hut not with years,
The eye is dimmed with its secret tears,
And streaked with white is the raven hair;
These are the tokens Of conflict there.
The battle is ended the hero goes
Worn and SCARED 10 his last repose.
He has won the day, he conquered doom,