Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COUNTERSIGN (1), by                    
First Line: Alas! The weary hours pass slow
Last Line: "whether in pleasure or in pain, / I still may have the countersign"
Subject(s): Holidays;memorial Day;war; Declaration Day


ALAS! the weary hours pass slow,
The night is very dark and still,
And in the marshes far below
I hear the bearded whippoorwill.
I scarce can see a yard ahead;
My ears are strained to catch each sound;
I hear the leaves about me shed,
And the spring's bubbling through the ground.

Along the beaten path I pace,
Where white rags mark my sentry's track;
In formless shrubs I seem to trace
The foeman's form, with bending back;
I think I see him crouching low --
I stop and list -- I stoop and peer,
Until the neighboring hillocks grow
To groups of soldiers far and near.

With ready piece I wait and watch,
Until my eyes, familiar grown,
Detect each harmless earthen notch,
And turn guerrillas into stone;
And then amid the lonely gloom,
Beneath the tall old chestnut trees,
My silent marches I resume,
And think of other times than these.

"Halt!" who goes there?" my challenge cry,
It rings along the watchful line;
"Relief!" I hear a voice reply --
"Advance, and give the countersign!"
With bayonet at the charge I wait --
The corporal gives the mystic spell;
With arms aport I charge my mate,
Then onward pass, and all is well.

But in the tent that night awake,
I ask, if in the fray I fall,
Can I the mystic answer make,
When the angelic sentries call?
And pray that Heaven may so ordain,
Where'er I go, what fate be mine,
Whether in pleasure or in pain,
I still may have the countersign.




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