The Writings of Bret Harte (Volume 12); Poems and Two Men of Sandy Bar (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: RELIEVING GUARD THOMAS STARR KIXG. OBIIT MARCH 4, 1864 Came the relief. What, sentry, ho How passed the night through thy long waking ? Cold, cheerless, dark, ? as may befit The hour before the dawn is breaking. No sight ? no sound ? Xo; nothing save The plover from the marshes calling, And in yon western sky, about An hour ago, a star was falling. A star ? There 's nothing strange in that. No, nothing; but, above the thicket, Somehow it seemed to me that God Somewhere had just relieved a picket. THE GODDESS FUND OF THE PACIFIC Who comes ? The sentry's warning cry Rings sharply on the evening air: Who comes ? The challenge: no reply, Yet something motions there. A woman, by those graceful folds; A soldier, by that martial tread: Advance three paces. Halt until Thy name and rank be said. My name ? Her name, in ancient song, Who fearless from Olympus came: Look on me Mortals know me best In battle and in flame. Enough I know that clarion voice; I know that gleaming eye and helm, Those crimson lips, ? and in their dew The best blood of the realm. The young, the brave, the good and wise, Have fallen in thy curst embrace: The juices of the grapes of wrath Still stain thy guilty face. My brother lies in yonder field, Face downward to the quiet grass: Go back he cannot see thee now; But here thou shalt not pass. A crack upon the evening air, A wakened echo from the hill: The watchdog on the distant shore Gives mouth, and all is still The sentry with his brother lies Face downward on the quiet grass; And by him, in the pale moonshine, A shadow seems to pass. No lance or warlike shield it bears: A helmet in its pitying hands Brings water from the nearest brook, ...