"WHO'VE ye got there?" -- "Only a dying brother, Hurt in the front just now." "Good boy! he'll do. Somebody tell his mother Where he was killed, and how." "Whom have you there?" -- "A crippled courier, Major, Shot by mistake, we hear. He was with Stonewall." "Cruel work they've made here; Quick with him to the rear!" "Well, who comes next?" -- "Doctor, speak low, speak low, sir; Don't let the men find out! It's Stonewall!" -- "God!" -- "The brigade must not know, sir, While there's a foe about!" Whom have we here -- shrouded in martial manner, Crowned with a martyr's charm? A grand dead hero, in a living banner, Born of his heart and arm: The heart whereon his cause hung -- see how clingeth That banner to his bier! The arm wherewith his cause struck -- hark! how ringeth His trumpet in their rear! What have we left? His glorious inspiration, His prayers in council met. Living, he laid the first stones of a nation; And dead, he builds it yet. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOREST FLOWERS by ROBERT FROST THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE by JAMES GALVIN SUNSET by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WOMAN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DEEP IN THE QUIET WOOD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ANCHORED TO THE INFINITE by EDWIN MARKHAM DOMESDAY BOOK: ELENOR MURRAY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |