The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-05
TIE LAST REDOUBT.
BY ALFRED AUSTIN.


KaceIyevo's slope stu felt
The cannons bolts a-d the rifles pelt;
For the last redOubt up the nil remained,
BY the Russ YET held, by the Turk not gained.
Nehemet All strokcd his beard;
His lips we're clnched and his look weird;
Eou him were RANKS OF his ragged folk,
Their faces blackened with blood and smoke.
Clear me the NoscOvite ou.r' he cried
Then the name Of Allah, - echoed wide.
And The fezzes were waved and the bayonets
And on TO the last redoubt they poured.
One fell, and a second quickly stopped
The gap THAI he left wnen he ree1ed and dropped
The seCOnd-a third straight filled his place:
The third-and fourth kept up the race.
Many a fez in the mud was crushed.
Many a throat that cheered hushed.
Many heart thai sought the crest
Found Allah's arms and houTi 5 breast.
over their corpses the living sprang,
And the ridge with their musket-rautle rang,
TIL the faces that lined the last doubt
Could see their faces and hear their shout.
In the redoubt q fair form lowered.
That cheered up the brave and child the coward;
BTandishng blade with gallant air,
His head erect and his bosom bare.
Fly, they are on u.s." his men impored:
But ne waved them with his waving sword.
1T cannO; be held: it's no shame 10 gOr'
But he stood with his face set nard TO the foe.
"Yield" but aloft his steel he flashed,
And down on their steel it ringing clashed;
Then back he reeled with a bladeless hit,
His honor fun, but his ifehood split.
They lifted him up from the dabLied ground;
his lnlDS ere Bnaprly, and soft and round.
No down on his lip, on his cheek no shade
'Bisml!lah!" they cried; "a It's an infdel maid r'
Mehemet All came and saw
The riddied breast and the tender Jaw.
Make her a bier OF your arms" he said,
a nd dsintiiy bury his dainty dead:
Make her grave where she stood and fell
Gainst the lacKafs scratch ard the vultures smell
Did the Moscovite men like their maldens fight,
In their lines We had scarcely supped tonight"
So deeper trench 'mong the trenches there
q y q as I-or-
And none. Till the judgment trumps and shout
Shall drive her ont OF the last redoubt
An insight into the feelings and senti.
ment of the new poet laureate is furnished
in his poem, as Lie Worth LivingPn
The last two stanzas are reproduced he
low. The first OF these stanzas is brim full
OF human sympathy. The CONCLUDING ono
affords a fair example of Austin's patriotic
expression:
Is life worth living? Yes so long
AS there is wrong to right,
Wall Of the weak against the strong
Or tyranny TO ut;
Long as there fingers gloom 10 chase
Or streaming tear to dry,
One kindred woe, one Borrowing face
That smiles draw nigh;
Long as q tale of anguish sweils
The heart, and lids grow wet
And at the sound OF Christmas bells
We pardon and forget;
so long as faith with freedom relgns,
nd loyal hope survives,
And gracious charity remains
To leaven lowly lives:
While there Is one untrodden tract
For intellect VIII,
And men are free TO think and act,
Life is worth living still.
Not care to live while English homes
Nestle In English trees,
And England's trident-scepter roams
Her territorial seas!
Motive while English songs are sung
Wherever blows the wind,
And England's laws and England's tongue
Enfranchise half mankindl
So long as in Pacific main,
or on Atlantic strand,
Our kin transmit the parent strain,
And love the motherland:
SO long as flashes English steel,
And English trumpets shrll,
He Is dead already who doth not feel
Life is worth living still.