Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD AND YOUNG, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD AND YOUNG, by                    
First Line: Grandpa, what are the drums a-saying?
Last Line: I'll be a soldier in your place.
Subject(s): Grandparents; Old Age; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


Grandpa, what are the drums a-saying?
They beat so long, and beat so low;
And you old soldiers step together
So solemn-like, and sad, and slow.

They're saying, boy, that we remember
The lads that held the sticks before;
And we are marching now together
Who soon will meet and march no more.

Grandpa, what are the bugles saying?
Their music sounds so sad and sweet,
It almost takes me up to Heaven,
Where I could kiss the angels' feet.

They're telling, boy, of a better country
With brighter sky and softer air;
And they who dared to die for duty
Are gone to live forever there.

Grandpa, why do we take the flowers
And leave them on the ground to die,
With little flags among them waving?
You dropped them there, and so did I.

We take the flowers, boy, and leave them
Above the soldier-dead to-day
Because their sweetness still reminds us
That bitterness has passed away.

Why do so many people, grandpa,
Go to the church, and pray, and sing,
And speak some poems and orations
And never want to end the thing?

They go because they never tire
The story of the war to hear,
And they are grateful to the soldiers,
This soldier-day of all the year.

Then don't you cry about it, grandpa;
The tears are running down your face;
When you are buried with the others
I'll be a soldier in your place.





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