"AT dawn," he said, "I bid them all farewell, To go where bugles call and rifles gleam." And with the restless thought asleep he fell, And glided into dream. A great hot plain from sea to mountain spread, -- Through it a level river slowly drawn: He moved with a vast crowd, and at its head Streamed banners like the dawn. There came a blinding flash, a deafening roar, And dissonant cries of triumph and dismay; Blood trickled down the river's reedy shore, And with the dead he lay. The morn broke in upon his solemn dream, And still, with steady pulse and deepening eye, "Where bugles call," he said, "and rifles gleam, I follow, though I die!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING TO MY EXCELLENT LUCASIA, ON OUR FRIENDSHIP. 17TH JULY 1651 by KATHERINE PHILIPS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 93. AL-NOOR by EDWIN ARNOLD EPITAPH ON THE SECRETARY TO THE MUSES by JANE BARKER LOUISA; A TALE by JANE BOWDLER THE CLIFF-TOP by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |