O CHRISTIAN soldier! shouldst thou rue Life and its toils, as others do -- Wear a sad frown from day to day, And garb thy soul in hodden-gray? O rather shouldst thou smile elate, Unquelled by sin, unawed by hate, -- Thy lofty-statured spirit dress In moods of royal stateliness; -- For say, what service so divine As that, ah! warrior heart, of thine, High pledged alike through gain or loss, To thy brave banner of the cross? Yea! what hast @3thou@1 to do with gloom, Whose footsteps spurn the conquered tomb? Thou that through dreariest dark can see A smiling immortality? Leave to the mournful doubting slave, Who deems the whole wan earth a grave, Across whose dusky mounds forlorn Can rise no resurrection morn, The sombre mien, the funeral weed, That darkly match so dark a creed; But be @3thy@1 brow turned bright on all, Thy voice like some clear clarion call, Pealing o'er life's tumultuous van The keynote of the hopes of man, While o'er thee flames through gain, through loss, -- That fadeless symbol of the cross. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOLY POEMS: 2 by GEORGE BARKER GOOD-NIGHT TO THE SEASON by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED MINSTREL OF THE SUN by FREDERICK HENRY HERBERT ADLER HOARFROST by STELLA PFEIFFER BAISCH THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: IMR EL KAIS by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A LYRIC OF AUTUMN by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE HEARTH by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |