Poems (Piatt)/Volume 1/Hearing the Battle
MISCELLANEOUS.
HEARING THE BATTLE.[July 21, 1861.]
One day in the dreamy summer,
On the Sabbath hills, from afar
We heard the solemn echoes
Of the first fierce words of war.
On the Sabbath hills, from afar
We heard the solemn echoes
Of the first fierce words of war.
A, tell me, thou veiléd Watcher
Of the storm and the calm to come,
How long by the sun or shadow
Till these noises again are dumb.
Of the storm and the calm to come,
How long by the sun or shadow
Till these noises again are dumb.
And soon in a hush and glimmer
We thought of the dark, strange fight,
Whose close in a ghastly quiet
Lay dim in the beautiful night.
We thought of the dark, strange fight,
Whose close in a ghastly quiet
Lay dim in the beautiful night.
Then we talked of coldness and pallor,
And of things with blinded eyes
That stared at the golden stillness
Of the moon in those lighted skies;
And of things with blinded eyes
That stared at the golden stillness
Of the moon in those lighted skies;
And of souls, at morning wrestling
In the dust with passion and moan,
So far away at evening
In the silence of worlds unknown.
In the dust with passion and moan,
So far away at evening
In the silence of worlds unknown.
But a delicate wind beside us
Was rustling the dusky hours,
As it gathered the dewy odours
Of the snowy jessamine-flowers.
Was rustling the dusky hours,
As it gathered the dewy odours
Of the snowy jessamine-flowers.
And I gave you a spray of the blossoms,
And said: "I shall never know
How the hearts in the land are breaking,
My dearest, unless you go."
And said: "I shall never know
How the hearts in the land are breaking,
My dearest, unless you go."
Washington, D. C.