THE increasing moonlight drifts across my bed, And on the churchyard by the road, I know It falls as white and noiselessly as snow.... 'T was such a night two weary summers fled; The stars, as now, were waning overhead. Listen! Again the shrill-lipped bugles blow Where the swift currents of the river flow Past Fredericksburg; far off the heavens are red With sudden conflagration: on yon height, Linstock in hand, the gunners hold their breath; A signal-rocket pierces the dense night, Flings its spent stars upon the town beneath: Hark! -- the artillery massing on the right, Hark! -- the black squadrons wheeling down to Death! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL FIREFLY; A SONG by ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS THE THREE TROOPERS DURING THE PROTECTORATE by GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY AGAMEMNON: WELCOME TO AGAMEMNON by AESCHYLUS RHODE ISLAND by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES THE IMPROVISATORE: ALBERT AND EMILY by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |