YES, it is ours! -- the field is won, A dark and evil field! Lift from the ground my noble son, And bear him homewards on his bloody shield. Let me not hear your trumpets ring, Swell not the battle-horn! Thoughts far too sad those notes will bring, When to the grave my glorious flower is borne! Speak not of victory! -- in the name There is too much of woe! Hushed be the empty voice of Fame -- Call me back his whose graceful head is low. Speak not of victory! -- from my halls The sunny hour is gone! The ancient banner on my walls, Must sink ere long; I had but him -- but one! Within the dwelling of my sires The hearths will soon be cold, With me must die the beacon-fires That streamed at midnight from the mountain-hold. And let them fade, since this must be, My lovely and my brave! Was thy bright blood poured forth for me? And is there but for stately youth a grave? Speak to me once again, my boy! Wilt thou not hear my call! Thou wert so full of life and joy, I had not dreamt of this -- that thou couldst fall! Thy mother watches from the steep For thy returning plume; How shall I tell her that thy sleep Is of the silent house, the untimely tomb? Thou didst not seem as one to die, With all thy young renown! -- Ye saw his falchion's flash on high, In the mid-fight, when spears and crests went down! Slow be your march! the field is won! A dark and evil field! Lift from the ground my noble son, And bear him homewards on his bloody shield. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUSSEX DRINKING SONG by HILAIRE BELLOC DOMESDAY BOOK: LILLI ALM by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A SWEET LULLABY by NICHOLAS BRETON ROUGE BOUQUET [MARCH 7, 1918] by ALFRED JOYCE KILMER HEART'S-EASE by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: FIDDLER JONES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |