C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Cavalry Song
By Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833–1908)
O
Our pulses with their purpose tingle:
The foeman’s fires are twinkling there;
He leaps to hear our sabres jingle!
H
Each carbine sends its whizzing ball:
Now, cling! clang! forward all,
Into the fight!
Through level lightnings gallop nearer!
One look to Heaven! No thoughts of home:
The guidons that we bear are dearer.
C
Cling! clang! forward all!
Heaven help those whose horses fall!
Cut left and right!
They fall, they spread in broken surges!
Now, comrades, bear our wounded back,
And leave the foeman to his dirges.
W
The bugles sound the swift recall:
Cling! clang! backward all!
Home, and good-night!