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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LEFT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD, by LAURA C. REDDEN
First Line: Oh, my darling! My darling! Never to feel
Last Line: Out of the hateful light.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Grief; U.s. - History; Sorrow; Sadness
First Line: Oh, my darling! My darling! Never to feel
Last Line: Out of the hateful light.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Grief; U.s. - History; Sorrow; Sadness
Oh, my darling! my darling! never to feel
Your hand going over my hair!
Never to lie in your arms again, --
Never to know where you are!
Oh, the weary miles that stretch between
My feet and the battle-ground,
Where all that is left of my dearest hope
Lies under some yellow mound!
It is but little I might have done
To lighten your parting pain;
But 't is bitter to think that you died alone
Out in the dark and the rain!
Oh, my hero love! -- to have kissed the pain
And the mist from your fading eyes!
To have saved one only passionate look
To sweeten these memories!
And thinking of all, I am strangely stunned,
And cannot believe you dead.
You loved me, dear! And I loved you, dear!
And your letter lies there, unread!
You are not dead! You are not dead!
God never could will it so --
To craze my brain and break my heart
And shatter my life -- I know!
Dead! dead! and never a word,
Never a look for me!
Dead! dead! and our marriage-day
Never on earth to be!
I am left alone, and the world is changed,
So dress me in bridal white,
And lay me away in some quiet place
Out of the hateful light.
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