O CHRISTIAN soldier! shouldst thou rue Life and its toils, as others do -- Wear a sad frown from day to day, And garb thy soul in hodden-gray? O rather shouldst thou smile elate, Unquelled by sin, unawed by hate, -- Thy lofty-statured spirit dress In moods of royal stateliness; -- For say, what service so divine As that, ah! warrior heart, of thine, High pledged alike through gain or loss, To thy brave banner of the cross? Yea! what hast @3thou@1 to do with gloom, Whose footsteps spurn the conquered tomb? Thou that through dreariest dark can see A smiling immortality? Leave to the mournful doubting slave, Who deems the whole wan earth a grave, Across whose dusky mounds forlorn Can rise no resurrection morn, The sombre mien, the funeral weed, That darkly match so dark a creed; But be @3thy@1 brow turned bright on all, Thy voice like some clear clarion call, Pealing o'er life's tumultuous van The keynote of the hopes of man, While o'er thee flames through gain, through loss, -- That fadeless symbol of the cross. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG FOR ALL SEAS, ALL SHIPS by WALT WHITMAN TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE by WALT WHITMAN COMPOSED BY THE SIDE OF GRASMERE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH HUDSON RIVER ANTHOLOGY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS TIPPERARY: 2. AS THE TRANSLATORS WOULD HAVE INTERLINED IT . . . by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS A SONNET. ON THE DEATH OF SYLVIA by PHILIP AYRES THE WATCHERS ON THE ROAD by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT SIDNEY'S ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: CANTO QUARTO by THOMAS CAMPION |