Page:Poems Clark.djvu/71

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THROWING THE SHOE
We stood 'mid the sunset's glories,
And our words were brief and few,
Though ever nearer and nearer
Drifted onward a sad adieu.
We, to be left in the quiet
Of home to watch and pray;
He, to stand up for the starry flag,
In the Union ranks far away.

We knew the cause was a good one,
That the hand which led was the Lord's;
Yet the tears would come unbidden,
And our thoughts took a depth beyond words;
With a glimpse of the dread and the waiting
In the days that must surely come,
When fear should walk beside our hope
Of saying a "Welcome home."

But there throbbed one heart, whose loving
Had trust and bravery too,
And she deemed it a sin that our soldier,
Should have only a tearful adieu;
So she said, as she glanced around her
On faces sad and pale,
"I'll bring you good luck with an olden spell
That never was known to fail."

65