BOLD Captain of the Body-Guard, I'll troll a stave to thee! My voice is somewhat harsh and hard, And rough my minstrelsy. I've cheered until my throat is sore For how Dupont at Beaufort bore; Yet here's a cheer for thee! I hear thy jingling spurs and reins, Thy sabre at thy knee; The blood runs lighter through my veins, As I before me see Thy hundred men with thrusts and blows Ride down a thousand stubborn foes, The foremost led by thee. With pistol snap and rifle crack -- Mere salvos fired to honor thee -- Ye plunge, and stamp, and shoot, and hack The way your swords make free; Then back again, -- the path is wide This time, -- ye gods! it was a ride, The ride they took with thee! No guardsman of the whole command Halts, quails, or turns to flee; With bloody spur and steady hand They gallop where they see Thy daring plume stream out ahead O'er flying, wounded, dying, dead; They can but follow thee. So, Captain of the Body-Guard, I pledge a health to thee! I hope to see thy shoulders starred, My Paladin; and we Shall laugh at fortune in the fray Whene'er you lead you well-known way To death or victory! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY SENSES DO NOT DECEIVE ME by MARIANNE MOORE THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM by ROBERT SOUTHEY SCORN NOT THE LEAST by ROBERT SOUTHWELL MAN FRAIL AND GOD ETERNAL by ISAAC WATTS A CLEAR MIDNIGHT by WALT WHITMAN LILIES: 19. 'WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WAS 'FAR AWAY,' I WAS DREAMING by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |