"AT dawn," he said, "I bid them all farewell, To go where bugles call and rifles gleam." And with the restless thought asleep he fell, And glided into dream. A great hot plain from sea to mountain spread, -- Through it a level river slowly drawn: He moved with a vast crowd, and at its head Streamed banners like the dawn. There came a blinding flash, a deafening roar, And dissonant cries of triumph and dismay; Blood trickled down the river's reedy shore, And with the dead he lay. The morn broke in upon his solemn dream, And still, with steady pulse and deepening eye, "Where bugles call," he said, "and rifles gleam, I follow, though I die!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CONTEMPLATION UPON FLOWERS by HENRY KING (1592-1669) THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE OLD GREY MARE by MOTHER GOOSE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 44. ALLAH-AL-RAKIB by EDWIN ARNOLD THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE WALNUT-TREE OF BOARSTELL: CANTO 2 by WILLIAM BASSE PSALM 74 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE MAPLE TREE OVER THE WAY by LEVI BISHOP LOVE AMONG THE RUINS by ROBERT BROWNING |