James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
August 22Dead Mens Holiday
By Louise Chandler Moulton (18351908)W
When all the banners flaunted triumph there
And soldiers tossed their caps into the air,
And cheered and cheered as they with joy were mad?
And shouted thanks and praise to all his men,
And the free echoes tossed it back again,
And the keen air stung all their lips like wine.
They who had given their lives the fight to win—
Were their ears deaf, think you, to all the din,
And their eyes blinded that they could not see?
How brief a thing this triumph of a day,
From which men journey on, the same old way,
The same old snares and pitfalls struggle through.
And with low laughter called they each to each—
“We are at rest where foemen cannot reach,
And better this than fighting in the sun.”