Sleep on, brave boy! In quiet sleep; No battle storm disturbs thee now; The drooping pines around thee weep -- Above that fevered, pallid brow. Upon the Rappahannock shore; In Sherman's legions firmly set; Thou heard'st the battle's deafening roar, Undaunted every foeman met. The harmless bullet past thee flew, And harmless burst the gleaming shell, As dark the storm of battle grew, And thousand braves around thee fell. And yet the miasmatic damp, The wet, the chill, of nightly bed, In ill supplied, uncovered camp, Have numbered thee among the dead. Thy country's cause was also thine, When duty called thee to the war: Sleep on, brave boy! Thy name shall shine, In honor's roll like evening star. Above thy dust the rose shall bloom; The breezes rock thy soul to rest: Thy mem'ry casts a sweet perfume, As from the kingdom of the blest. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HIS HEART, BIDDING IT HAVE NO FEAR by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS FABLE; ROME, 1875 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH WINTER SUNSET by EVA K. ANGLESBURG THE THYROID GLAND by GAMALIEL BRADFORD HALBERT AND HOB by ROBERT BROWNING |