HE rides at their head; A crutch by his saddle just slants in view, One slung arm is in splints you see, Yet he guides his strong steed -- how coldly too. He brings his regiment home, Not as they filed two years before; But a remnant half-tattered, and battered, and worn, Like castaway sailors, who, stunned By the surf's loud roar, Their mates dragged back and seen no more, -- Again and again breast the surge, And at last crawl, spent, to shore. A still rigidity and pale, An Indian aloofness, lones his brow; He has lived a thousand years Compressed in battle's pains and prayers, Marches and watches slow. There are welcoming shouts and flags; Old men off hat to the Boy, Wreaths from gay balconies fall at his feet, But to him -- there comes alloy. It is not that a leg is lost, It is not that an arm is maimed, It is not that the fever has racked, -- Self he has long disclaimed. But all through the Seven Days' Fight, And deep in the Wilderness grim, And in the field-hospital tent, And Petersburg crater, and dim Lean brooding in Libby, there came -- Ah heaven! -- what truth to him! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THEY SAY - . by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 21 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING CHIQUITA by FRANCIS BRET HARTE THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LAUGHING CORN by CARL SANDBURG |