Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-07-14
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Or sudden joy viii dumbly stand,
Finding no words to give relief
Clear, passion warm, complete, and brief
To thoughts with which their souls expand;
So hare to-day--these trophies nigh
Our lips no fitting words can reach;
The hills around, the graves, the sky
The silent poem Of the eye
surpasses all the art of speech!
To-day, nation meets to build
nations trophy to the dead
Who, living, formed her sword and shield
The arms she sadly learned to WELD
When other hope of peace had fed
And not alone for those who lie
In honored graves before us hlent.
Shall our proud column, broad and high,
Climb upward to the blessing sky,
But be for all monument.
An emblem Of cur grief, as well
Forothers rs for these, we raise;
For these beneath our feet who dwell,
And all who in the good cause fell
On ether fields, in other Trays.
To all the self-sane love we bear
Which here for marbled memory strives;
No soldier for wreath would care
Which all true comrades might not share
Brothers in death as in their Iivesl
On Southern hill-sides, parched and brown,
In tangled swamp, on verdantridge,
Where pines and broadening oaks look down,
And jasmine weayes its yellow crown,
Aud trumpet-creepers elothe the hedge;
Along the shores of endless sand,
Beneath the palms ofSouthern plains,
Sleep every where hand locked in hand,
The brothers of the gallant band
Who here poured life through throbbing veins.
Around the closing eyes of all.
The same red glories glared and flew
The hurrying flags, the bagle cali,
The whistle Of the angry ban,
The elbow touch Of comrades true
The skirmish fre-a spattering spray;
The snarling growl of fire by file,
The thickeuing fury ofthe fray
When opening batteries get in play,
And the lines form q 'er nlaay mile.
The foeman's yell, our ansg ring cheer,
Red flashes through the gathering smnke,
Swift orders. resonant and cisar
Blithe cries from comrades tried and dear,
The shell-seream and the lbre-stroke:-
The rolling FIRE from left 10 right,
From right to left, we hear it SWELL
The headlong charges swift and bright,
The thickening tumun of The sight
And bursting thundefs ofthe she'll
Now denser, deaeliier grows ne strife
And here We yield, and there we gains
The air with hurting missiles rife,
Voiley for yoiiey, life for life
Ne time to heed Ok cries Of painl
Painting as up the hills we charge,
Or down them as We broken roll,
Life never felt 80 high, 50 large,
And never Ger so vide marge
In triumph swept the kindIing soul.
New raptures waken in the breast
Amid this hell of scene and sound;
The barking batteries never rest,
And broken foot by horsemcn pressed,
Still stubbornly contest thcir ground.
Fresh waves Of battle rolling in
10 take the place Of shattered waves;
Torn lines that grow more bent and thin
A binding cloud, maddening din
Twas thus were filed these very graves!
Night falls at length with pitying veil
moonlight silence deep and fresh;
These upturned faces, stained and pale,
yainly the chill night dews assail
For colder than the dews their flesh
And Pickering far through brush and wood
Go searching parties, torch in hand
"seize if you can some rest and food,
At dawn the fight viii be renewed,
Sleep on yodr arms!'' the hustled command.
They talk in whispers they lie
In Iines--these rough and weary men;
.Dead or but wounded?' then a sigh;
'.No coffee eitherF 'sGuess well try
70 get those two guns back again"
We've five flags to their one ohoF'
"That bridge--'twas hot there as We passed.
'grhe Colonel dead! Itean't be so
Wounded and badly-that | know:
But he kept saddle to the last"
'Be sure to send it if / fall"
.'Any tobacco? Bill have you - E.t.
ssA brown-haired, bIue-eyed laughing DOLL
Good night, boys. and Sod keep you ailt'
"ewsat! sound asleep? Guess III sleep too"
yes, just about this hour they pray
For Dad .'Stop talking pass the word Y
And soon as quiet as the clay
Which thousands will but be next day
The long drawn sighs of sleep are heard.
e.
oh, men to whom this sketch, though rude, e
Calls back some scene Of pain and pride;
Oh, widow 5hugging close your brood,
oh, wife with happiness renewed,
Since he again is at your side
This trophy thot to-day we raise
Shouid be monument for all;
And on its si'Ies no niggard phrase
Confine a generous nation praise
To those who here have chaneed to fan.
But let us al to-day combine
Still other monuments TO raise;
Here for the Dead we baiId shrine
And now to those who, crippled pine
Let us give hope Of happier daysl
Let homes for these sad wrecks ofwar
Through all the land with speed arise;
Tongues cry from every gaping scar
"Let not our brothers. tomb debar
The wounded living from your eyes
A nobletlay, n deed as good,
A noble scene in which tbs done,
The Birthday OF our NatonhoOd;
And here again the Nation stood
On this same day--its life rewou
A bloom of banners in the air,
double calm Of sky and soul
Triamphal chant and bugle blare
And green fields, spreading bright and fair,
While heayeaward our Hosannas ron.
Hosannas for land redeemed,
The bayonet sheathed, the cannon dumb
Passed as some horror we have dreamed