He is dead, the beautiful youth,
The heart of honour, the tongue of truth, He, the life and light of us all,Whose voice was blithe as a bugle-call, Whom all eyes followed with one consent,The cheer of whose laugh, and whose pleasant word, Hushed all murmurs of discontent.
Only last night, as we rode along, Down the dark of the mountain-gap, To visit the picket guard at the ford, Little dreaming of any mishap,He was humming the words of some old song : "Two red roses he had on his cap,And another he bore at the point of his sword. "Sudden and swift, a whistling ball
Came out of a wood, and the voice was still; Something I heard in the darkness fall, And for a moment my blood grew chill;I spake in a whisper, as he who speaks In a room where some one is lying dead, But he made no answer to what I said.
We lifted him up to his saddle again,
And, through the mire and the mist and the rain, Carried him back to the silent camp,And laid him, as if asleep, on his bed;
And I saw by the light of the surgeon"s lamp Two white roses upon his cheeks,And one, just over his heart, blood-red !
And I saw in a vision how far and fleet That fatal bullet went speeding forth,Till it reached a town in the distant north, Till it reached a house in a sunny street, Till it reached a heart that ceased to beat Without a murmur, without a cry;And a bell was tolled in that far-off town
For one who had passed from cross to crown,
And the neighbours wondered that she should die.
Longfellow.
Author. -HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW(1807-1882) was anAmerican poet who was a professor of modern languages. He wrote many beautiful and simple original poems and translations. He is often called the "Children"s Poet."General. -What was the hero like? When did the incident happen? Who didthe deed? Where did his comrades take him? Who was the second victim? To what war does Longfellow refer? Do things like this happen in other wars? Write your own reflections on the matter.
