James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
October 12Gone Forward
By Margaret J. Preston (18201897)
Y
Through every crevice flashes in a day
Magnificent beyond all earth’s adorning;
The night is over; wherefore should he stay?
And wherefore should our voices choke to say,
“The General has gone forward!”
But with superb endurance, present, past,
Our pure Commander, lofty, simple, tender,
Through good, through ill, held his high purpose fast,
Wearing his armor spotless,—till at last
Death gave the final “Forward!”
Thus summoned?—“Let the tent be struck!”—
For when
Did call of duty fail to find him ready
Nobly to do his work in sight of men,
For God’s, and for his country’s sake—and then
To watch, wait, or go forward?
As his large life writes on the century’s years
Should crowd our bosoms with a flush of glory,
That manhood’s type, supremest that appears
To-day, he shows the ages. Nay, no tears
Because he has gone forward!
Christ’s well-worn soldiers, from their conflicts cease,—
Where Faith’s true Red-Cross Knights repose in regions
Thick studded with the calm white tents of peace,—
Thither, right joyful to accept release,
The General has gone forward!