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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VOLUNTEERS, by WILLIAM HAINES LYTLE Poet's Biography First Line: The volunteers! The volunteers / I dream, as in the by-gone years Last Line: Shall spring the volunteers once more. Subject(s): Army - United States; Heroism; U.s. - Mexican War (1846-1848); Heroes; Heroines | |||
THE Volunteers! the Volunteers! I dream, as in the by-gone years, I hear again their stirring cheers, And see their banners shine, What time the yet unconquered North Pours to the wars her legions forth, For many a wrong to strike a blow With mailed hand at Mexico. The Volunteers! Ah, where are they Who bade the hostile surges stay, When the black forts of Monterey Frowned on their dauntless line? When, undismayed amid the shock Of war, like Cerro Gordo's rock, They stood, or rushed more madly on Than tropic tempest o'er San Juan? On Angostura's crowded field Their shattered columns scorned to yield, And wildly yet defiance pealed Their flashing batteries' throats: And echoed then the rifle's crack, As deadly as when on the track Of flying foe, of yore, its voice Bade Orleans' dark-eyed girls rejoice. Blent with the roar of guns and bombs, How grandly from the dim past comes The roll of their victorious drums, Their bugle's joyous notes, When over Mexico's proud towers, And the fair valley's storied bowers, Fit recompense of toil and scars, In triumph waved their flag of stars. Ah, comrades, of your own tried troop, Whose honor ne'er to shame might stoop, Of lion heart and eagle swoop, But you alone remain; On all the rest has fallen the hush Of death; the men whose battle-rush Was wild as sun-loosed torrent's flow From Orizaba's crest of snow. The Volunteers! the Volunteers! God send us peace through all our years, But if the cloud of war appears, We'll see them once again. From broad Ohio's peaceful side, From where the Maumee pours its tide, From storm-lashed Erie's wintry shore, Shall spring the Volunteers once more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON NOTES FOR AN ELEGY by WILLIAM MEREDITH THE EROTICS OF HISTORY by EAVAN BOLAND A SONG FOR HEROES by EDWIN MARKHAM AFTER THE BROKEN ARM by RON PADGETT |
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