NEVER again on the shoulder To see our lordly leaves; Never again to follow The flag of the Stripes and Stars; Never again call "Comrade" To the men who were comrades for years; Thrilling, and sweet, and solemn ; Never again call "Brother" To the men we think of with tears; In the dust of the marching column. Never again be a sharer In the chilly hour of the strife Never to feel our manhood Kindle up into ruddy life 'Mid the hell of scenes and noises In the hot hours of the battle. Crippled, forlorn, and useless, The glory of life grown dim, Brooding alone o'er the memory Of the bright, glad days gone by; Nursing a bitter fancy, And nursing a shattered limb; Oh, comrades, resigning is harder--- Never again on the jacket To see our knightly bars; To see our lordly leaves; Never again to follow The flag of the Stripes and Stars; That young ambition weaves. Pierced by shafts of Time, he bleeds, All the long-drawn earthy banks Slow between them drifts the swan, "Twixt two heavens drifting. Wings half open, like a flow'r July deeper flushing, Neck and breast as virgin's pure- Day is dying! Float, O swan, Down the ruby river; Follow, song, in requiem To the mighty Giver. "IT WAS IN THE PRIME." (FROM "THE SPANISH GYPSY.") It was in the prime And the thinnest self. It was but a minute But each gentle thing- Soft-thrilled hawthorn-tree, With the thinnest self- |