Ye Forms of Heroes slumb'ring here,Beneath these tombstones cold and drear,On which the moss of age has slept,Since one fond heart has o'er you wept,Oh tell me, if a Mortal's prayer,Can ever wake your spirits, whereThey sleep the dark dread sleep of death.Tell me if now the laurel wreath,Which Glory twin'd around your head,Can wake … Continue reading Poem – “Forms of Heroes”
Poetry
Poem – “Providence”
Where bay and river tranquil blend,And leafy hillsides rise,The spires of Providence ascendAgainst the ancient skies. Here centuried domes of shining goldSalute the morning’s glare,While slanting gables, odd and old,Are scatter’d here and there. And in the narrow winding waysThat climb o’er slope and crest,The magic of forgotten daysMay still be found to rest. A … Continue reading Poem – “Providence”
Poem – “To a Pet Cobra”
With breath indrawn and every nerve alert,As at the brink of some profound abyss,I love on my bare arm, capricious flirt,To feel the chilly and incisive kiss Of your lithe tongue that forks its swift caressBetween the folded slumber of your fangs,And half reveals the nacreous recessWhere death upon those dainty hinges hangs. Our lonely … Continue reading Poem – “To a Pet Cobra”
Poem – “Boots”
INFANTRY COLUMNS We're foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin' over Africa —Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa —(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again!) There's no discharge in the war! Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an'-twenty mile to-day —Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before —(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again!) There's no discharge in the war! Don't—don't—don't—don't—look at what's … Continue reading Poem – “Boots”
Poem – “Character of the Happy Warrior”
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is heThat every man in arms should wish to be?—It is the generous Spirit, who, when broughtAmong the tasks of real life, hath wroughtUpon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:Whose high endeavours are an inward lightThat makes the path before him always bright;Who, with a natural instinct to … Continue reading Poem – “Character of the Happy Warrior”
Poem – “An American to Mother England”
England! My England! Can the surging seaThat lies between us tear my heart from thee?Can distant birth and distant dwelling drainTh’ ancestral blood that warms the loyal vein?Isle of my Fathers! hear the filial songOf him whose sources but to thee belong!World-conquering Mother! by thy mighty handWas carv’d from savage wilds my native land:Thy matchless … Continue reading Poem – “An American to Mother England”
Poem – “The Truce of the Bear”
Yearly, with tent and rifle, our careless white men goBy the Pass called Muttianee, to shoot in the vale below.Yearly by Muttianee he follows our white men in—Matun, the old blind beggar, bandaged from brow to chin. Eyeless, noseless, and lipless - toothless, broken of speech,Seeking a dole at the doorway he mumbles his tale … Continue reading Poem – “The Truce of the Bear”
Poem – The Prayer of the Proud in Purgatory
Our Father in Heaven, not by Heaven boundedBut there indwelling for the greater loveThou bear'st Thy first works in the realm first-founded, Hallowed be Thy name, hallowed Thy PowerBy every creature as its nature grants itTo praise Thy quickening breath in its brief hour. Let come to us the sweet peace of Thy reign,For if … Continue reading Poem – The Prayer of the Proud in Purgatory
Poem – “O Sacred Head, Surrounded”
O Sacred Head, surroundedby crown of piercing thorn!O bleeding Head, so wounded,reviled and put to scorn!Our sins have marred the gloryof Thy most Holy Face,yet angel hosts adore Theeand tremble as they gaze I see Thy strength and vigorall fading in the strife,and death with cruel rigor,bereaving Thee of life;O agony and dying!O love to … Continue reading Poem – “O Sacred Head, Surrounded”
Poem – “The Hollow Men”
Mistah Kurtz-he dead A penny for the Old Guy I We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper … Continue reading Poem – “The Hollow Men”
Serpent's Den 