Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LITTLE BIG HORN, by ERNEST MCGAFFEY First Line: Beside the lone river Last Line: The shades of the dead through the ages lie dreaming. Subject(s): Little Bighorn, Battle Of | ||||||||
BESIDE the lone river, That idly lay dreaming, Flashed sudden the gleaming Of sabre and gun In the light of the sun As over the hillside the soldiers came streaming. One peal of the bugle In stillness unbroken That sounded a token Of soul-stirring strife, Savage war to the knife, Then silence that seemed like defiance unspoken. But out of an ambush Came warriors riding, Swift ponies bestriding, Shook rattles and shells, With a discord of yells, That fired the hearts of their comrades in hiding. Then fierce on the wigwams The soldiers descended, And madly were blended, The red man and white In a hand-to-hand fight, With the Indian village assailed and defended. And there through the passage Of battle-torn spaces, From dark lurking-places, With blood-curdling cry And their knives held on high, Rushed Amazon women with wild, painted faces. Then swung the keen sabres And flashed the sure rifles Their message that stifles The shout in red throats, While the reckless blue-coats Laughed on 'mid the fray as men laugh over trifles. Grim cavalry troopers Unshorn and unshaven, And never a craven In ambuscade caught, How like demons they fought Round the knoll on the prairie that marked their last haven. But the Sioux circled nearer The shrill war-whoop crying, And death-hail was flying, Yet still they fought on Till the last shot was gone, And all that remained were the dead and the dying. A song for their death, and No black plumes of sorrow, This recompense borrow, Like heroes they died Man to man -- side by side; We lost them to-day, we shall meet them tomorrow. And on the lone river, Has faded the seeming Of bright armor gleaming, But there by the shore With the ghosts of no-more The shades of the dead through the ages lie dreaming. | 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 MILES KEOGH'S HORSE by JOHN MILTON HAY THE REVENGE OF RAIN-IN-THE-FACE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CUSTER'S LAST CHARGE [JUNE 25, 1876] by FREDERICK WHITTAKER BY THE LITTLE BIG-HORN by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE CUSTER by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN ON THE BIG HORN by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ON THE LITTLE BIGHORN: 1. THEN - THE SIOUX by RAY SMITH A CALIFORNIA IDYL by ERNEST MCGAFFEY |
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