Andre's Request to Washington

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Andre's Request to Washington (1835)
by Nathaniel Parker Willis
616576Andre's Request to Washington1835Nathaniel Parker Willis

It is not the fear of death
  That damps my brow;
It is not for another breath
  I ask thee now;
I can die with lip unstirr'd
  And a quiet heart—
Let but this prayer be heard
  Ere I depart.

I can give up my mother's look—
  My sister's kiss;
I can think of love—yet brook
  A death like this!
I can give up the young fame
  I burn'd to win—
All—but the spotless name
  I glory in!

Thine is the power to give,
  Thine to deny,
Joy for the hour I live—
  Calmness to die.
By all the brave should cherish,
  By my dying breath,
I ask that I may perish
  By a soldier's death.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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