Geo H. Boker's Patriotic Poem On The Battle Of Bull's Run

[juiyartt, i?r.i.] I'll teil you what 1 heard that day. I heard the great guns far away. Boom after boom. Their sullen sound Shuok all the shuddering air around, And shook ah me ! my shrhifcing ear_. And downward shook r, lie hunging t.ear That in despite of manhood's pride, Rolled o'er my face a soalding lide. AnJ th I prayed, O God 1 l_ prayed As never stucken aint, who laid Hie hot ebeek to the lioly tomb Of Jesus, in the niidnight gloom. "Whatsawl?" Litlle. Clouds of duat; Great squares of men, wilh standards thrust Against their eourse; dense columns erov. ned With billowing steel Theu, bouud on bound, The long black lints of cannon poured Beland the horses, streaked and gored With eweaty speed. A non shot by, Like a lone meteor of the eky, A single horseman; and he slione iiis bright face on me, and was gone. All these, with lolling drums, with cheera, With songs faniliar to my ears, Pnssed under the far hanging cloud, And vonishcd; uud my heart WM proud ! For raile on mile llie line of war Extended; and a .-teady roar, As of soine distaut stormy sea, On the Bouth-wind caine up to me. And high in air, and over all, Grcw, like a fog that murky pall, Bcmatii whose gloom of dusty snioke The cannon flniiied, the bonibshell broke, And the harp rattling volley rang. And shrapnel! ma red, and bullets sang, And fierce eyed men, with panino breath, Toiled onward at the work ot' death. I eould net see, mu fctxw too weli, That underneath that cloud of heil, Whiofa still grew more by greal iegrees, Mau strove with man in dieds like these. But when llie sun had passed hia stand At noon, behold ! on every hand The dark brown Tapór Sackward bore, An.i fainter carne the dreadtul roar From the huge sea of striving men. Thus spoke my rising spirit then: "Take comfort from that dying sound, Faint heart. ',he foe is giving ground! ' And one, who taxed bis horse 8 potrera, Flungai me "H ! the day is ours!" And Bcoured aloug. tío swift lus pace I took no memory of bis face. Tl. en tuined I once again to Heaven; All th-.ngs appeared so just and eveu; So cleniïy trom the higbest Cause Traced 1 tile downward workiig laws - Those moral springs, made evident In the grand, tviataph erowued eventSo half I sbouted and half sang, Like Jeptha's daughter to the clang Of my spread, cymhal-striking palms, Some fragmenta of thank6giving psalms, Meanwhile a solemn stillness feil U]or. the land O'er hill and dell Failed every sound. My beurt stood still, VVaiting befoiesome coming ill. The silence va more sad and dread, Under that canopy of lead Tlmn the wild tumult of the war That raged a bttle while bcfore. All Nature in her work of deatli Paued foi one last, despairing breath ; An cowering to ihe earth, 1 drew From her etrong breast my strength anevr. When I arose, I wondering Uf Another dusiy vapor draw, from the farright, its sluggish way Toward the main cloud, t'.iat. Irowning lay Against the wesiward sloping sun; And all the war was rebegun, Lre this fresh marvel of :. y sense Caught from mymind significanc3 nd then - why ak Biel Oh! my God! Would I had luin beneath the Bod, A patiënt clod, lor maiiy a day And fróui my bones and mouldering elay The rank field grass and flowers had ü lung. Ere the base siglit, that. struck and aiung My very soul, confroiittd me, Shamed at my own humanity. O happy dcad who early feil, hae no wretched t Ie to teil Of causeless fear and coward flight, Of vittoiy 8natched beneath your sight, Of martial ettength and lionor lost, Of mere Ufe bought at any cost, '' Of the deep ÜLgering mark of sliame, Forever seorched on brow and name, That no new deeds, ho wever bright, hall banisli from meii's loathful sight I Ye periehed in your conscious pride, Ere this vile scandal opened wide A wound thnt cannot ciose or heal; Ye periehed steel to ieveled steel. Stern votarie of the God ot war, Filled with his godhead tothe core ! Ye died to Uve ; thetíe lived to die Beneath the eeorn of every eye ! How eloquent your voices sound From the low chambtrs underground ! How clear each separate title burns From your high set and laureled uras ! While these, who walk about the earth, Are bluahing at their very birth; And though they talk, and go and come, Their moving lipi are wo.se than duuib Ye sleep beneath tho valley's dew, Aiul all the nation mo'.'.rns for you; So sleep, till God shall wake the iands! For angels, armed wilh fiery brauds, Await to take you by the hand. The right hand vapor broader grew; It rose, and joined itself unto The main clou. I with a sudden dash. Loud and more near the cannon 's crash Carne towards me, and I heard a sound As if all heil had broken bouiid - A cry of agony and ftar Still the dark vapor rolled moru near, Till at my very feet it tossed The vanward iragmeuts of our ho9t. Can man, Thy imago sink so low, Thou whohasl bent Thy tinted bow Across tlie storm aud raging main ; Who8e laws both loosen and rebtrain The powers of earth , withuul wlioau will No sparrow's little ,ife is s.ill? Was fear of heil, or want of faith, Or the biute'8 cornmon dread of death The passion that began a el. ase Whoee goal wu-. rum and disgraee? Whttt tcDgue the fearful sight muy teil ? What horrid nightmare ever feil Upin the restless sleep of crime - liut history of another time- What dismal visión, darkly seen By the stern featured Florentina, Can give a hint todimly draw The lik.-ness oi the scène I sawT I saw. yei 8aw not. In that sea, That chaos of humanity, No more the eye could catch aud keep A sing.e poirt, than on the deep The eye niay jiark a "-ingle wave Where h i'.rryirg myriads leap and rave. M'-n of all arms and all costumes, Bare headed, leektd with broken plumes; Boldier and offioeri and those Whoworebut civil suiied clothes; On foot or mouiited - ome bestroae 8teed stvered from their harnessed load; Wild mobs of white topped wagons, cars Of wounded, red with bleeding loara; The whole, grim panoply of w:ir Surged on me with a deafening roar. All hades of fear disfiguring man, Glared through their faces' brazen tan, ííot one a moment paustd, or atood To see what enemy pursued With shriekgof fear and yellaof pain, With every mu6cle on the ItraÏB, Onwarrt the struggling masses bore. Oh! had thefoemen lain before, They d trampled thein to duet and gore, And swept their linee and batteries As autumn sweeos the windy treesl Uere one cast forth his wounded friend, Aci wi'.h liie sword ornioeket end ürged n tlie horses; there one trod Upon thi likeoess of h Is God As if 'twere duit; a coward here Grew valiant wiih lus very foar, And Btruck liis weaiter oomrade prone. And slruggled to the front alone. All had oí, e purpoSS, one sole aim, That uiooked the deoency ot'shania, To fly. by auy menns to lly; They carod nol liow, tlu-y nskod rot why. Í fcund a voice. My burning blood Flntned up Uion a mound I stood ; 1 could no more reetrain mj voic Than could ihe prophot of üod's choioe. " Bnck, nnitnnifii dirt!'' I cried. " Bnck. oo your wretelieri livea.and hide Your shamo bcncath your naiive ola I Or, if the foe affriglit you, elay Y oor own base selve; urn!, dying, leare Your cliildren's tearful clieeks to grieve, Not qnail anti blush, when you shull come, Ahve, totheir dtgraded home ! Your wives will look askanee with scorn; Your boys, and infaots yet unoorn, Will carie }'" to God's uoly face ! Heaven liolda nc pardon in ts giaoa F;reowarda. Oh! -uch as ye The guardians of our liberty? Back, if one trace of mar.hood still ilav nerve your arm and braceyour will ! Yoti staio your country ia the eyes Of Europe and her empiriee! 'l'lie deapots laugh, the peoplcs groan, Man 'a cause is lot and oveithrown I 1 eur e j'ou, by tlie saered blood Thiit freely poured ts purplo flood Down Buiiki-r s heighte, on Munrnouth's plain, Frora Georgia to the rooltl of Maine ! I curse you by the patriot band Whoae bones are cruu.bling in the land I By tliose whp saved what thuae had won Tri the high mime of Washington !" Then I little more, j As the tide's rising wavi's tlial pour Over some low and rounded rook The coming mass, with one great shock, Flowed o er the shelter of my mound. And ruiaed me helpless from the gr und. As the linge shouldering billows bear, Half in the sea and half in air, A swimmer on their ioaming crest, So the foul throng beneath me presed, Swept me along with curse and blow, And bore me wliere, I ne'er sliall know. Wlien Iawoke, a steadjr ruin Made rivulets ncross the iain; And it wa ark - oh! veiy aark. I was so stunni'd as scarce U mark The ghosily figures of the ns, Or hear the iobbiug of the bree.e Tlial flung , he wet leaves 'o und fro. Upon nie lay a disiual woe, A büundleSS suv rhuinan grief That drew no pivnr.se ot' relief From any hope 'I lien I aniso. As one wlio struggles up from blowa By misten hands; and as 1 stood, Alone 1 th ught that God was good, To hide, in elonds and driving rain, Our low World (mm the angel train Whoáe eouls filkd héroes wiun tiieearth. Was worLhy of iheir noble birth. By that duil instinct of t he mind Whieh leads aright the helpleps blind, I stiuggled onward till the dawn Across the eastern elouds had ijrawn A narrow line of watery gray ; And full before my visión lay '1 he great dome'sgaunt and nakéd bonos Beneath whose crowu the natiou throues H r queenly person. On 1 stolt', With iianging head and aUject soul, Aeross the hih eoi atilcd ridgO, And o'er the aiehos of the bridge So freshly priokad my sliarp disgraee, I feared to muet the iiuinan face Skulking, as any woman miglit Who'd lost her virlue in the night, And sees the dreadful glare of day Prepare to light her homeward way, Alone, heart-broken, ehamed, undone, I staggcred iuto Washington ! Since then long slnggish days have pasaed. And on the wings of every blast Have come the distant nations' sneers To tingle in our blushing esrs. In woe and aahca as was meet, We wore the penitential sheet. But now 1 breathe a purer air, And from the depths of my despair A waken to a cheering mom, Just breaking through the night forlorn A mom of hopeful victory. Awake, my eountrymen, with me I Kedeem the honor whichyou lost, With any blood, at any cost ! I ask not huw the war began, Nor huw the qnarrel branched and rau To this dread Ueight. The wrong orright S-ands clear before God's faultless sight, I only feel the shameful blow, 1 only see the Boomful foe, And veneaucc bnrns in every vein To die, or wipeaway the atain, Vhe war wise hero of ihe West, Wearing h is glories ad a ci-st Of tropliies galhered in your sight, Is arruina for tlie coming fight, Full well hls wisdom apprehends The duty and its mighty ends; The great occasion ot the hour, That never lay in human power Since over Yorktown'a tented plain The red cross teil, nor rosj again My liumble pledge ot faith 1 lay, Dear coinrade of mv school boy day, Before thee, in the nation's view; And if thy prophet prove uiitrue, And from our country's grasp be thrown The sceptre aud the starry jrown, And thouand all tliy marshaled host Be bafll'd and in ruin lost; Oh! let me not outlive the blow That seals my country s overthrow ! And leat this woful end come iiue, Men of the North, I turn to }-ou l)ÍB[)l:iy your vaunted ílag once more, Southward your enger columns puur ! 8ound trump and file and rallying drum; From every hill and vulley c me. Old men.yield ap your treaaured gold; Can liberty bepneed and sold? Fair malrons, maids, and tender brides, Gird weapons toyour lover's sidej; And, tho your hearts break at the deed, Give themyour blessing and God speed; Then point them to the field of faine, With wurds like ihose of Spart a'i dame. And when the ranks are full and strong, And ihe whole army moves along, A vast retult of care and skill, Obedient to !he mas er's will; Andycur voung hero draws the sword, And gires the last coinmanding word That hurls your strength upon the foe Oh I let them need no second blow, Strike, as your fathers struek of old, Through -ummer's heat and winters cold; Througli pain, disaster, and defeat; Through mai ches tracked with bloody feet; Thraugh every ill"that could bclall The holy cause that bound them all I Strike a they etruck for liberty ! Strike as they struek lo niake you free! Strike for the erown of victory.