BY the mighty minster's bell, Tolling with a sudden swell; By the colors half-mast high, O'er the sea hung mournfully; Know, a prince hath died! By the drum's dull muffled sound, By the arms that sweep the ground, By the volleying muskets' tone, Speak ye of a soldier gone In his manhood's pride. By the chanted psalm that fills Reverently the ancient hills, Learn, that from his harvest done, Peasants bear a brother on To his last repose. By the pall of snowy white Through the yew-trees gleaming bright By the garland on the bier Weep! a maiden claims thy tear -- Broken is the rose! Which is the tenderest rite of all? -- Buried virgin's coronal, Requiem o'er the monarch's head, Farewell gun for warrior dead, Herdsman's funeral hymn? Tells not each of human woe? Each of hope and strength brought low, Number each with holy things, If one chastening thought it brings Ere life's day grow dim! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEFORE THE BIRTH OF ONE OF HER CHILDREN by ANNE BRADSTREET MOTHER AND POET; TURIN, AFTER THE NEWS FROM GAETA, 1861 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING TERMINUS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 27. THE POWER OF ELOQUENCE IN LOVE by PHILIP AYRES PRAIRIE VOICES by CHARLOTTE LOUISE BERTLESEN AUGURY by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |