SIX thousand veterans practised in war's game, Tried men, at Killicranky were arrayed Against an equal host that wore the plaid, Shepherds and herdsmen. -- Like a whirlwind came The Highlanders, the slaughter spread like flame; And Garry, thundering down his mountain-road, Was stopped, and could not breathe beneath the load Of the dead bodies. -- 'Twas a day of shame For them whom precept and the pedantry Of cold mechanic battle do enslave. O for a single hour of that Dundee, Who on that day the word of onset gave! Like conquest would the Men of England see; And her Foes find a like inglorious grave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUFFMAN'S PHOTOGRAPH OF THE GRAVES OF THE UNKNOWN AT LITTLE BIGHORN by KAREN SWENSON ELEGY IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON CREPUSCULE DU MATIN; SONNET by AMY LOWELL OFF MESOLONGI by ALFRED AUSTIN SPRING'S IMMORTALITY by H. T. MACKENZIE BELL |