Sleep on, brave boy! In quiet sleep; No battle storm disturbs thee now; The drooping pines around thee weep -- Above that fevered, pallid brow. Upon the Rappahannock shore; In Sherman's legions firmly set; Thou heard'st the battle's deafening roar, Undaunted every foeman met. The harmless bullet past thee flew, And harmless burst the gleaming shell, As dark the storm of battle grew, And thousand braves around thee fell. And yet the miasmatic damp, The wet, the chill, of nightly bed, In ill supplied, uncovered camp, Have numbered thee among the dead. Thy country's cause was also thine, When duty called thee to the war: Sleep on, brave boy! Thy name shall shine, In honor's roll like evening star. Above thy dust the rose shall bloom; The breezes rock thy soul to rest: Thy mem'ry casts a sweet perfume, As from the kingdom of the blest. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SIMON THE CYRENIAN SPEAKS by COUNTEE CULLEN A REQUIEM FOR SOLDIERS LOST IN OCEAN TRANSPORTS by HERMAN MELVILLE EPISTLE TO MRS. BLOUNT, WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE by ALEXANDER POPE SONNET: LOVE'S HEIGHT by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON TRENCH RAID NEAR HOOGE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE DEATH-BOAT OF HELIGOLAND by THOMAS CAMPBELL TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. ELDER SOLDIER IN BROTHERHOOD TO THE YOUNGER by EDWARD CARPENTER |