Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/97

But when full many a battle-storm had left them both unharmed,
I taught my foolish heart to think the double lives were charmed.

Their colonel since has told me that no braver boys than they
Ever rallied round the colors, in the thickest of the fray;
Upon the wall behind you their swords are hanging still—
For John was killed at Fair Oaks, and Paul at Malvern Hill.

Then came the dark days, darker than any known before;
There was another call for men—"three hundred thousand more;"
I saw the cloud on Jamie's brow grow deeper day by day;
I shrank before the impending blow, and scarce had strength to pray.

And yet at last I bade him go, while on my cheek and brow
His loving tears and kisses fell; I feel them even now,
Though the eyes that shed the tears, and the lips so warn on mine
Are hidden under southern sands, beneath a blasted pine!

He did not die in battle-smoke, but for a weary year
He languished in close prison walls, a prey to hope and fear;
I dare not trust myself to think of the fruitless pangs he bore,
My brain grows wild when in my dreams I count his sufferings o'er.

Only two left! I thought the worst was surely over then;
But lo! at once my school-boy sons sprang up before me—men!