English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Bret Harte
812. The Reveille
H
And of armèd men the hum;
Lo! a nation’s hosts have gathered
Round the quick alarming drum,—
Saying, ‘Come,
Freemen, come!
Ere your heritage be wasted,’ said the quick alarming drum.
War is not of life the sum;
Who shall stay and reap the harvest
When the autumn days shall come?
But the drum
Echoed, ‘Come!
Death shall reap the braver harvest,’ said the solemn-sounding drum.
What of profit springs therefrom?
What if conquest, subjugation,
Even greater ills become?’
But the drum
Answered, ‘Come!
You must do the sum to prove it,’ said the Yankee-answering drum.
Whistling shot and bursting bomb,
Should my heart grow cold and numb?’
But the drum
Answered, ‘Come!
Better there in death united, than in life a recreant,—Come!’
Some in faith, and doubting some,
Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming,
Said, ‘My chosen people, come!’
Then the drum,
Lo! was dumb.
For the great heart of the nation, throbbing, answered, ‘Lord, we come!’