THE WARRIORS OF THE SKY.
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"Anon the drum and trumpet called; and I, to serve inclined,
To the old home said a brief farewell, and left its scenes behind;
I saw the snowy sails expand, the good ship on- ward fly,
And England's white cliffs soon were lost unto my aching eye;
And then I longed to reach the land that held the distant foe
To see our conquering banners float, our burnished sabers glow.
How many a day came back to me, in that short waking dream,
While I paced guard back and forth, above Catawba's darkened stream!
To the old home said a brief farewell, and left its scenes behind;
I saw the snowy sails expand, the good ship on- ward fly,
And England's white cliffs soon were lost unto my aching eye;
And then I longed to reach the land that held the distant foe
To see our conquering banners float, our burnished sabers glow.
How many a day came back to me, in that short waking dream,
While I paced guard back and forth, above Catawba's darkened stream!
"A light fell near me on the stream, a kind of lurid light,
That lessened, like the cloud-veiled moon, the darkness of the night.
Dim and uncertain first it seemed, then steadier grew the glare,
Deepening and widening o'er the earth, the water and the air.
I looked around me and above; the southern sky was red,
And silence was on all around, like the silence of the dead;
That lessened, like the cloud-veiled moon, the darkness of the night.
Dim and uncertain first it seemed, then steadier grew the glare,
Deepening and widening o'er the earth, the water and the air.
I looked around me and above; the southern sky was red,
And silence was on all around, like the silence of the dead;
