Roll-Call
by
Nathaniel Graham Shepherd (1834-1888) |
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"Corporal Green!" the Orderly cried;
"Here!" was the
answer loud and clear,
From the lips of a soldier who
stood near,--
And "Here!" was the word the next replied.
"Cyrus Drew!"--then a silence fell;
This time no
answer followed the call;
Only his rear-man had seen him
fall;
Killed or wounded--he could not tell.
There
they stood in the failing light,
These men of battle,
with grave, dark looks,
As plain to be read as open
books,
While slowly gathered the shades of night.
The fern on the hillsides was splashed with blood,
And
down in the corn, where the poppies grew,
Were redder
stains than the poppies knew,
And crimson-dyed was the
river's flood.
For the foe had crossed from the other
side,
That day, in the face of a murderous fire
That
swept them down in its terrible ire;
And their life-blood
went to color the tide.
"Herbert Cline!"--At the call
there came
Two stalwart soldiers into the line,
Bearing between them this Herbert Cline,
Wounded and
bleeding, to answer his name.
"Ezra Kerr!"--and a
voice answered "Here!"
"Hiram Kerr!"--but no man replied.
They were brothers, these two; the sad wind sighed,
And a
shudder crept through the cornfield near.
"Ephraim
Deane!"--then a soldier spoke;
"Deane carried our
regiment's colors," he said,
"When our ensign was shot; I
left him dead,
Just after the enemy wavered and broke."
"Close to the roadside his body lies;
I paused a
moment and gave him to drink;
He murmured his mother's
name, I think,
And Death came with it and closed his
eyes."
'Twas a victory, yes; but it cost us dear:
For that company's roll, when called at night,
Of a
hundred men who went into the fight,
Numbered but twenty
that answered "Here!" |
By Nathaniel Graham Shepherd (1834-1888)
Listed March 11, 2013 |
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