Many SoldiersThe idea danced before us as a flag;The sound of martial music;The thrill of carrying a gun;Advancement in the world on coming home;A glint of glory, wrath for foes;A dream of duty to country or to God.But these were things in ourselves, shining before us,They were not the power behind us,Which was the Almighty hand of Life,Like fire at earth’s center making mountains,Or pent up waters that cut them through.Do you remember the iron bandThe blacksmith, Shack Dye, weldedAround the oak on Bennet’s lawn,From which to swing a hammock,That daughter Janet might repose in, readingOn summer afternoons?And that the growing tree at lastSundered the iron band?But not a cell in all the treeKnew aught save that it thrilled with life,Nor cared because the hammock fellIn the dust with Milton’s Poems.
The idea danced before us as a flag;The sound of martial music;The thrill of carrying a gun;Advancement in the world on coming home;A glint of glory, wrath for foes;A dream of duty to country or to God.But these were things in ourselves, shining before us,They were not the power behind us,Which was the Almighty hand of Life,Like fire at earth’s center making mountains,Or pent up waters that cut them through.Do you remember the iron bandThe blacksmith, Shack Dye, weldedAround the oak on Bennet’s lawn,From which to swing a hammock,That daughter Janet might repose in, readingOn summer afternoons?And that the growing tree at lastSundered the iron band?But not a cell in all the treeKnew aught save that it thrilled with life,Nor cared because the hammock fellIn the dust with Milton’s Poems.