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Home  »  American Sonnets  »  Louise Imogen Guiney (1861–1920)

Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891.

Among the Flags

Louise Imogen Guiney (1861–1920)

In Doric Hall, Massachusetts State House

DEAR witnesses, all luminous, eloquent,

Stacked thickly on the tesselated floor!

The soldier-blood stirs in me, as of yore

In sire and grandsire who to battle went:

I seem to know the shaded valley tent,

The armed and bearded men, the thrill of war,

Horses that prance to hear the cannon roar,

Shrill bugle-calls, and camp-fire merriment.

And as fair symbols of heroic things,

Not void of tears mine eyes must e’en behold

These banners lovelier as the deeper marred:

A panegyric never writ for kings

On every tarnished staff and tattered fold;

And by them, tranquil spirits standing guard.