Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/66

IN WAR TIME 4

Ah, tender heart of woman leal,

Supple as wax and strong as steel!

Thousands as faithful and as lone,

Following each some dearest one,

Found in those early months a home

Under the brightness of that dome

Whose argent arches for aye enfold

The hopes of a people in their hold,—

Irradiate, in the sight of all

Who guard the Capital's outer wall.

Lastly came one, amid the rest,

Whose form a sunburnt soldier prest,

As lovers embrace in respite lent

From unfulfilled imprisonment.

And Alice found a new content:

Dearer for perils that had been

Were short-lived meetings, far between;

Better, for dangers yet to be,

The moments she still his face could see.

These, for the pure and loving wife,

Were the silver bars that marked her life,

That numbered the days melodiously;

While, through all noble daring, Hugh

From a Captain to a Colonel grew,

And his praises sweetened every tongue

That reached her ear,—for old and young

Gave him the gallant leader's due.

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of a meteor through the sky,

Scattering firebrands, arrows, and death,—

A baleful year, that hurtled by

While ancient kingdoms held their breath.

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