Turning round to look at Gretchen,
But a tearful visage saw.
Bright upon the bridal finger
Shone the unaccustomed ring;
Scarcely worn ere, called to battle,
Gottlieb left her sorrowing.
****
Now the bitter fight is over;
Soldier bands with flag and drum
Come marching home. But Gretchen whispers,
"Alas! my Gottlieb does not come.
"What care I for German glory?
One I love is lost to me;
In the trench a ghastly vision
Of his pallid face I see.
"Ah, when strangers buy a posy,
Calling it meantime Too dear,
Do they guess the rose's dewdrop
Is the while a woman's tear?
"Slowly, Franz! Why bound so wildly?
Why that cry so loud and glad?
Down, I say! Alas! my flowers!
Art wicked, Franz, or growing mad?"
****
Far and wide lie scattered blossoms;
Hark! a cry, a dog's low whine;
A dusty soldier clasping Gretchen,
While bugles blow "Watch on the Rhine."
Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/84
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78
SCATTERED ROSES.
