Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/149

 THE BOYS. 143

Here, then, in the mountains, by strange, bitter fountains,

Seeking health, changing place for a 1 whim, We leave one another friends, lover, and mother

Leave eyes that without us grow dim ; We part from them lightly, who pray for us nightly,

Our names with a benison call ; Each merry to-morrow we drive away sorrow

With the thought, we shall meet &quot; in the fall.&quot;

God grant that the portal to glory immortal

May lie through the old homestead door, Where faces that love us may circle above us,

To bid us good-bye nevermore ! But if tis denied us that loved ones beside us

Shall gather, His hand doeth all ; And there, loving stronger, we ll wait for them longer,

If we fail to meet here &quot;in the fall.&quot;

��THE BOYS.

nPHE boys are coming home to-morrow ! :

1 Thus our rural hostess said, Whilst Lou and I shot flitting glances Full of vague, unspoken dread.

Had we hither come for quiet, Hither fled the city s noise,

�� �