Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/217

Rh And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,

Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,

Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,

Over the unreturning brave—alas!

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass

Which, now beneath them, but above shall grow

In its next verdure, when this fiery mass

Of living valour, rolling on the foe,

And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low.

Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,

Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay;

The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,

The morn the marshalling in arms,—the day,

Battle's magnificently stern array!

The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent,

The earth is covered thick with other clay,

Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,

Rider, and horse—friend, foe—in one red burial blent!

.

Ivry.

glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are!

And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King Henry of Navarre!