Page:Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.djvu/109

Rh For the scheme that was nursed by the Culpepper hearth

With the slowly-smoked cigar—

The scheme that smouldered through winter long

Now bursts into act—into waw—

The resolute scheme of a heart as calm

As the Cyclone's core.

The fight for the city is fought

In Nature's old domain;

Man goes out to the wilds,

And Orpheus' charm is vain.

In glades they meet skull after skull

Where pine-cones lay—the rusted gun,

Green shoes full of bones, the mouldering coat

And cuddled-up skeleton;

And scores of such. Some start as in dreams,

And comrades lost bemoan:

By the edge of those wilds Stonewall had charged—

But the Year and the Man were gone.

At the height of their madness

The night winds pause,

Recollecting themselves;

But no lull in these wars.