BOLD Captain of the Body-Guard, I'll troll a stave to thee! My voice is somewhat harsh and hard, And rough my minstrelsy. I've cheered until my throat is sore For how Dupont at Beaufort bore; Yet here's a cheer for thee! I hear thy jingling spurs and reins, Thy sabre at thy knee; The blood runs lighter through my veins, As I before me see Thy hundred men with thrusts and blows Ride down a thousand stubborn foes, The foremost led by thee. With pistol snap and rifle crack -- Mere salvos fired to honor thee -- Ye plunge, and stamp, and shoot, and hack The way your swords make free; Then back again, -- the path is wide This time, -- ye gods! it was a ride, The ride they took with thee! No guardsman of the whole command Halts, quails, or turns to flee; With bloody spur and steady hand They gallop where they see Thy daring plume stream out ahead O'er flying, wounded, dying, dead; They can but follow thee. So, Captain of the Body-Guard, I pledge a health to thee! I hope to see thy shoulders starred, My Paladin; and we Shall laugh at fortune in the fray Whene'er you lead you well-known way To death or victory! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO GOD THE FATHER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS by HENRY GLASSFORD BELL PSALM 121 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE A LITTLE DUTCH GARDEN by HARRIET WHITNEY DURBIN AMORETTI: 75 by EDMUND SPENSER THE ROSES ON THE TERRACE by ALFRED TENNYSON FROM HIDDEN SOURCE by JEAN ANDERSON |