THE BRAVE AT HOME
by: Thomas Buchanan Read
(1822-1872)
- HE maid who binds her warrior's
sash
- With smile that well her pain dissembles,
- The while beneath her drooping lash
- One starry tear-drop hangs and trembles,
- Though Heaven alone records the tear,
- And Fame shall never know her story,
- Her heart has shed a drop as dear
- As e'er bedewed the field of glory.
-
- The wife who girds her husband's sword,
- Mid little ones who weep or wonder,
- And bravely speaks the cheering word,
- What though her heart be rent asunder,
- Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear
- The bolts of death around him rattle,--
- Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er
- Was poured upon the field of battle!
-
- The mother who conceals her grief
- While to her breast her son she presses,
- Then breathes a few brave words and brief,
- Kissing the patriot brow she blesses,
- With no one but her secret God
- To know the pain that weighs upon her,--
- Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod
- Received on Freedom's field of honor!
"The Brave at Home" is
reprinted from The Little Book of American Poets: 1787-1900.
Ed. Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1915. |
MORE POEMS BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ |
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