| |
| “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; | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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, | 15 |
| 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. | 20 |
| |
| “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!” | 25 |
| “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, | 30 |
| “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, | 35 |
| And Death came with it and closed his eyes.” | |
| |
| ’T was 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!” | 40 |
| |
