Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/223

Rh Urged to an end unknown by one all-knowing Power;

While if the drama pauses, now and then,

On the huge stage, 't is for a moment only—

Here at the heart or in some vista lonely,

A single hero or a million men,

And with the tragic theme the world resounds again.

First, in the awful waiting came the shock,

The shame unbearable, the sacred flag assailed—

Assailed in freedom's name by those who freedom mock!

Ah, then the oath, to stand as stands the rock

'Gainst flood and tempest, lest that flag be trailed

And torn, or any star therefrom be lost—

The oath, murmured alone, or where the crowd,

As by a wind of heaven swept and tost,

Passioned its soul to God, and strong men wept aloud.

Then sweet farewell; O bitter-sweet farewell;

O brave farewell! Who were the bravest then,

Or they who went, or waited—women or men?

They who the cheers heard, or the funeral knell?

They who stept proudly to the rattling drum,

Inflamed by war's divine delirium,

Or they who knew no mad joy of the fight,

And yet breathed on through waiting day and weeping night?

Farewell and forward! O, to live it over,

The first wild heart-beat of heroic hours!

Forward, like mountain-torrents after showers!

Forward to death, as to his bride the lover!

Forward, till quick recoils the impetuous flood,

And ends the first dread scene in terror and in blood!

Onward once more, through sun and shivering storm,—

A monstrous length with wavering bulk enorm,—

Wounded or striking, bringing blood or bleeding,