Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PLACIDE BOSSIER by JAMES RYDER RANDALL

First Line: AH, FRIEND! IN THE TENDER COLLEGE TIME
Last Line: THE CROSS ON THE SAINT-HEART SHINING!
Subject(s): DEATH; SOLDIERS; SOUTHERN STATES; WAR; DEAD, THE; SOUTH (U.S.);
AH, friend! in the tender College time
No evil deed could stain thee,
And now 'mid the combat's iron chime,
In purity they've slain thee.
@3Sans peur et sans reproche@1 to live,
@3Sans peur@1 the foe defying—
@3Sans peur et sans reproche@1 we give
Thy epitaph when dying.

When the Southern bullet sang the knell
Of the ravaging invader,
Then—then triumphantly he fell,
Our spotless young Crusader;
With the loud hurrah and the dauntless tramp
Of the charging Creole yeomen,
He fell where the Cherubim encamp,
With his face to the flying foemen.

The blood moon guides its torch of night
Through the smoke envolumed valleys,
And the hillocks tell where the reddest fight
Shook the quick, convulsive rallies;
In the foremost phalanx he shall rest
His head in the dust declining,
The rifle shielding the soldier breast—
The cross on the saint-heart shining!



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