THE DYING VISION OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 25 I
And when, the foremost in the fight,
I bade n.11 bravely stand, Each officer looked black as night ;
All shrank from my command, And would have served, I well could see. Under a dog: more soon than me.
��The ungrateful knaves for whom I bled
Scowled at me when I passed ; They grudged that swords my blood should shed.
Still longing to the last To see me by the halter strung. And to the hounds like carrion flung.
I hate them all ; I hate mankind.
Hate every living thing ; Yet, though to infamy consigned.
Still to my pride I cling. O soul ! be stubborn, nor deplore The loss of honor, thine no more.
The thirst of gold hath been my bane ;
Yet 'twas not wealth I prized, But rank and power I sought to gain —
Vain things, long since despised. There's not a man so poor, so mean. That would as Arnold's guest be seen.
No ! should I meet the very groom
Did once my stables tend, He, too, would give me elbow room,
But scorn to be my friend. Would that in earth I might but rot, AHke by God and man forgot !
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