NOBLEST of martyrs in a glorious fight! Ye died to save the cause of Truth and Right; And though your banner beams no more on high, Not vainly did it wave or did ye die! No blood for freedom shed is spent in vain; It is as fertile as the summer rain; And the last tribute of heroic breath Is always conqueror over Wrong and Death. The grand procession of avenging years Has turned to triumph all our bitter tears; And the cause lost, by battle's stern behest, Is won by Justice, and by Heaven blest. Dark grew the night above our sacred slain, Who sleep upon the mountain and the plain; But darker still the black and blinding pall That whelmed the living in its lurid thrall. But taught by heroes, who had yielded life, We fainted not, nor faltered in the strife; With weapons bright, from peaceful Reason won, We cleaved the clouds and gained the golden sun. And so to-day the marble shaft may soar In memory of those who are no more; The proudest boast of centuries shall be, That they who fell with JACKSON rise with LEE! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER; A PARAPHRASE OF THE 102ND PSALM by JOHN CLARE A NEW EARTH by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY TOMMY [ATKINS] by RUDYARD KIPLING ELEGIAC STANZAS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH EXALTATION by HILDA WHILT ARCHER THE LAY OF ST. ODILLE by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 35. BALACLAVA by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) TO MY FRIEND MR. THOMAS FLATMAN, ON THE PUBLISHING OF THESE HIS POEMS by FRANCIS BARNARD (D. 1698) |