Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/111

Rh And then the dusk and dew of night
 * Fell softly o'er the plain,

As though o'er man's dread work of death
 * The angels wept again,

And drew night's curtain gently round
 * A thousand beds of pain.

All night the surgeons' torches went
 * The ghastly rows between;

All night with solemn step I paced
 * The torn and bloody green:

But who that fought in the big war
 * Such dread sights has not seen?

At last the morning broke. The lark
 * Sang in the merry skies

As if to e'en the sleepers there
 * It bade, Wake, and arise!

Though naught but that last trump of all
 * Could ope their heavy eyes.

And then once more, with banners gay,
 * Stretched out the long brigade;

Trimly upon the furrowed field
 * The troops stood on parade,

And bravely 'mid the ranks were closed
 * The gaps the fight had made.

Not half the Twenty-second's men
 * Were in that place that morn,

And Corporal Dick, who yester-noon
 * Stood six brave fellows on,

Now touched my elbow in the ranks,
 * For all between were gone.

Ah! who forgets that dreary hour
 * When, as with misty eyes,

To call the old familiar roll
 * The solemn sergeant tries,

One feels that thumping of the heart
 * As no prompt voice replies?