He was an ex-artillery man. God knows the devious paths by which he came To be day-man on a Dakota farm. Too frail for such hard tasks was that gaunt frame Burned up by evil living. Seamed and worn Was that dark face and dull those staring eyes. Yet there were times he wore his garments torn As if they were his country's uniform. Once of the light artillery, now he rode The clashing disc or drove the jingling drill, But when the four great horses forward surged. Memory, it seemed, had power to rouse him still. Out of that ruin of a man would rise The soldier, poised, alert, revitalized. As he swept past with taut reins lifted high Almost one heard the caissons rumbling by. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RAIN-SONGS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 101 by ALFRED TENNYSON EL HOMBRE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS EPISTLES ON THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF WOMEN: 1 by LUCY AIKEN FOR MY CHILD by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS SUMMER APPROACHES by MABEL WARREN ARNOLD LILIES: 27. THE WAVE-TOSSED VESSEL by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |