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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


RELIEVING GUARD by FRANCIS BRET HARTE

Poet Analysis

First Line: CAME THE RELIEF. 'WHAT, SENTRY, HO!'
Last Line: "SOMEWHERE HAD JUST RELIEVED A PICKET."
Subject(s): AMERICAN CIVIL WAR; UNITED STATES - HISTORY;

CAME the Relief. "What, Sentry, ho!
How passed the night through thy long waking?"
"Cold, cheerless, dark, -- as may befit
The hour before the dawn is breaking."

"No sight? no sound?" "No; nothing save
The plover from the marshes calling,
And in yon Western sky, about
An hour ago, a Star was falling."

"A star? There's nothing strange in that."
"No, nothing; but, above the thicket,
Somehow it seemed to me that God
Somewhere had just relieved a picket."



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