Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SOLDIERS OF PEACE, by BAYARD TAYLOR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SOLDIERS OF PEACE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is the brave that first forget
Last Line: One future, just and free!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Fate; Peace; Soldiers; Tears; Destiny


I.

IT is the brave that first forget,
And noble foes that first unite;
Not they who strife and passion whet,
Then slink when comes the need to smite.
'T is mutual courage that forgives,
And answering honor that outlives
The onset's hour, the battle's day:
The hearts that dare are quick to feel;
The hands that wound are soft to heal;
The blood that dims a hero's steel
His proud tears wash away!

II.

One holier sun awakes at last
For North and South the blithe, bright hours:
No more upon our dead are cast
The once divided gifts of flowers
But where the live-oak hides in moss,
And where the plumy larches toss
Their arms above the mayflower's bed,
And where wide waves of prairie crawl
To meet, far-west, their mountain-wall,
The People's voice says: "Peace to all!
We honor equal dead."

III.

Oh, never from our elm-tree shades
So sweetly piped the thrush, as now;
Nor, 'mid the lonely Everglades,
The mocking-bird on cypress bough!
Nor wild-grass wove by meadow-rills,
Nor clover on the happy hills,
So soft a carpet for the Spring!
Bound is each hand that fain would spoil:
The Truce of God upon our soil
Descends, like Sabbath after toil,
His benison to bring!

IV.

'T is time your bard restrung his harp,
That long hath echoed in its note
The volley's rattle, fierce and sharp,
The thunder-bass of cannon-throat;
That sang of fields where Glory swayed.
But wingless Victory paused, and stayed
To see her only flag unfurled;
That summoned, as a bugle blown;
That challenged, as a trumpet's tone;
That quickened, as a bolt is thrown
From heaven, to shake the world!

V.

Ah! must we then renounce the theme
That first can rouse and best inspire, --
The splendor of the soldier's dream,
The ardor of the patriot's fire?
When each, to sternest duty bowed,
Makes all, as common kindred, proud,
And blots the long reproach of Time, --
When Youth forgets what most is fair,
And Age assumes a nobler care,
And Manhood, as a wave in air,
Heaves high, to fall sublime!

VI.

The virtues, poured in lavish flood
To whelm our coarser Self in shame;
The pure infection of the blood
That burned for loftier meed than fame, --
Must these be lost? -- or absent now
The song of lip, the light of brow,
Remembering they were doubly ours
And, though we honor both as one,
That strain of blood, in both begun,
Say, lies it buried from the sun,
Beneath memorial flowers?

VII.

Not so! -- the summit of his deed
Is the true measure of the man,
Though once alone he caught the speed
That every baser aim outran.
What once a moment is, assures
The certainty of what endures,
And thus its sacred law decrees;
So ye, whom battle spared or scarred,
Safe-sheltered now from disregard,
Hearken to England's blind old bard:
"Peace hath her victories!"

VIII.

What once, in fiery test of war,
So proved itself, must ever stand,
To make the land worth living for,
Since others died to save the land! --
Take from their lips the parted breath!
Make Life as glorious as is Death
To them that triumph when they fall.
Still bid the phantom squadrons throng
Their purpose and their will prolong
To guard the Right, repel the Wrong,
And giving, gain, their all!

IX.

Are they but soldiers who enlist
When peril shocks the Nation's heart?
Who leave the maiden's lips unkissed,
Or kiss the wife and child, and part? --
But soldiers then, when calls the drum
And calls the flashing bayonet: "Come!"
And batteries challenge: "If you dare!" --
When all the standards wave unfurled,
And other clouds than Heaven's are hurled
To dim the beauty of the world,
And death floats free in air!

X.

They most are soldiers, who shall keep
That climax of their manhood yet;
Who stand on guard when others sleep
And bear in mind what all forget!
Not in the clash of steel is found,
For them, the only battle-ground:
Equipped and armed, through life they go,
Their hearts' best blood resolved to spend,
Where Honor shows some grander end, --
For whom each true man is a friend,
And each false man a foe!

XI.

If knaves beguile, by felon art,
The shifting favor of the hour;
If civic rule from right depart,
And brazen Impudence has power:
If low Ambition buy his place
While Merit waits in half-disgrace,
Still undecided sways the fight:
The bugle still to charge commands;
There is no truce of tongues or hands,
No quarter, while one foeman stands
To mock eternal Right!

XII

The idle blade is gnawed with rust,
Though meteor of a hundred fields;
The lance, unhandled, falls to dust,
That proved its grain on shivered shields.
And Manhood, that has learned to dare,
Should as a sword his courage wear,
His honor as a flag defend; --
Should stand, amid the heedless host,
A lifelong sentry at his post,
His sole device and knightly boast:
To break, but not to bend!

XIII.

Soldiers of Peace! -- in war began
Your service, and it must not cease
Until the soldier through the man
Has conquered and ennobled peace!
Frank eyes of youth grow bright, to trace
A spell on each historic face
That sets your lives their own above;
And woman's homage, sweet and shy,
Not woman's pride shall dare deny,
Since he who readiest is to die
Is truest in his love!

XIV.

One loyal habit summons all
From out the dust of old desires
One spark of truth your deeds let fall
Shall fill the land with fresher fires!
Though Youth's belief be Manhood's doubt,
And generous hopes be trampled out
By cynic scorn or selfish will,
Yet honor stays, devotion burns,
And pride that mean concession spurns:
No man his early faith unlearns,
And keeps his manhood still!

XV.

This, Soldiers, be your chosen fate,
Your fame that longest shall endure
'T is noble, thus to save a State,
But nobler yet to make it pure.
For all whose swords were bravely crossed
There is no true cause that was lost!
Defeat unites with Victory
To win, for each, a grander aim, --
One Fatherland, redeemed from blame;
One Past, of sadder, prouder fame;
One Future, just and free!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net