Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/121

 RICH AND POOR. 11$

&quot; Dead Captain Allaine !&quot;

With his face to the foe I warrant he died. He is richer, I trow : He owns the six feet of the earth where he lies Six feet of pure ether way up to the skies; Six feet where the flowers shall chaplet the sod, And daisies bright letters designed by a God Shall point to the crown which our good Father keeps For the soldier who prays ere he battles or sleeps.

Through the ranks of the wounded is walking alway

A shadowy figure robed ever in gray

(A color that s woven of darkness and light,

Like glimpses of morning through blackness of night

An emblem of hope, who with right loving care

Sends shuttles, white-threaded, through webs of

despair).

Unwearied, the face with its violet eyes Still watches the soldier as wounded he lies.

But the men whisper softly, with sorrowful sighing,

&quot; Alas ! for the angel among us is dying.&quot;

The death-shadowed home that is on Murray Hill

Grows graver and sadder, more mournfully still ;

The soft carpets wait for the bridegroom s still tread ;

The door-bell awaits the black flag of the dead ;

A sorrow is coming no riches can cure :

They have saved Arabella from marrying poor ;

But with prayers and a kiss on the locks growing

hoary, She is going some day from their vision to glory.

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