The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-15
A GREETING
To the Veterans Who Meet in Reunion In
This City To-day.

the Veterans Who Meet in Reunion IL
This City To-day.
Owe who gather here to-day,
With warlke sound of tife and drum
We send q welcome on the way
As warm as sunshine born OF May,
To meet and greet you as you come
No terror pulsates on the air,
Born of the sound of martial tread;
Your tattered flags and saores pare;
The sharp commands through bugles' Dlare
Awaken not thought OF dread.
We open wide our hearts again,
And homes to you devoid Of leck:
Remembering how on battle plain
You charged with steed unchecked OF rein,
And bravery bore the battles SHOCK
Until the flag by traitors furled
The emblem of our liberty,
Shook out, where smoke OF battle CURED
Its folds before watching world,
From line to gulf, and sea to sea.
Ye have not met to nurture ire
Against the foe We bravely fought,
For you the laurel and the Tyre,
For them, but ashes of the fire,
The price in full their folly brought.
But ye have met to wander back
In memory over camp and Held,
When all the sky with war was black
The weary march and bivouac-
Before your foe had learned to yield.
To mourn for those We may not see,
Who ON the field of glory died,
Aud by some farOff riverside
Await the last loud reveille.
So light your camp-fres till they throw
Their CLEAN across the gloom OF years;
Till, starting from their ruddy glow
Shall panoramic pictures grow,
Wrought Of the nations blood and tears
But not all somber they in tint
To you who ON these pictures gaze;
Stray bars of sunshine DER them CLINT,
And light them up with more than hint
OF pleasant hours in camping days,
thousand things, though poor and mean,
They seem to those who never saw
The drinking from the same canteen,
A comrade on his fellow lean,
In hour of need your heartstrings draw.
A smoke drift lets its shadow fall,
And shades the picket post with night;
Low crOuching meath the nights dark pail,
You hear the sergeant's guarded call
And whisper answer "All is right"
Gray morning breaks, and to your ears
Is borne a sound from foeman's camp;
The low faint hum Of seeming cheers,
Which changes as your pOstlt nears,
To marching army's steady tramp.
Low murInurs of coming yell.
The popcorn fire of skirmish line,
The plume-like puff of bursting shell,
A shrek like demon loOsed from hell
And dull explosion of mine;
The deep bass growl of cannons' boom,
And rafting muskeUs' baritone
Half hidden in a smoky gloom,
You pant for breath and fight for room,
Yet glad if you can hold your own.
Again night shuts the scene from view
SO mad with strife at heat of noon;
struggling light of ghostly hne,
Shows where your comrades, tired and true,
Lie mustered out beneath the noon,
And when reformed your shattered ranks
To answer to the rosters call,
How sadly silence shows the blanks,
How brief the space between the TANKS,
How deep the sorrow for you all!
But not in vain your comrades fall;
Our flag restriped with heroes blood
No longer hangs a dsrkenlng pail,
Or shadows any life in thrall,
In all the land from flood to flood.
Loud sound. 1.-THE cOnquering hero comesi"
Or rather "herOes" be il read
From house to street a welcome huns,
We greet you with a roll OF drums,
And ruffie beaten for the dead.
Peace that your noble valor bought,
High-thrOned, the deeds We did O'erlooks,
The swords with which your foemen wrough
Upon the fields whereon you fought,
Are changed to shares aud pruning hooks;
We know that il from Orazen throat
call should come for needed hand,
In answer to the waf-lke note
Your banners in the van would float,
AHu AiVh eho 9OA""oiAN SPINS VHo OA1
Though feeble be the praise we sound,
And weak may seem the shout of cheers,
The echo started on its sound
From year TO year will sure rebound,
And gather force with added years.
Then live again in tented field,
A BRIEF short honr of warlike strife,
Where charging squadrOns broke ant
wheeled a.-
And shattered columns backward reeled-
And hours remembered, not of strife
ZEN D. House, Adjutant of the Indiana Crane