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| ROOM for a soldier! lay him in the clover; | |
| He loved the fields, and they shall be his cover; | |
| Make his mound with hers who called him once her lover: | |
| Where the rain may rain upon it, | |
| Where the sun may shine upon it, | 5 |
| Where the lamb hath lain upon it, | |
| And the bee will dine upon it. | |
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| Bear him to no dismal tomb under city churches; | |
| Take him to the fragrant fields, by the silver birches, | |
| Where the whip-poor-will shall mourn, where the oriole perches: | 10 |
| Make his mound with sunshine on it. | |
| Where the bee will dine upon it, | |
| Where the lamb hath lain upon it, | |
| And the rain will rain upon it. | |
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| Busy as the bee was he, and his rest should be the clover; | 15 |
| Gentle as the lamb was he, and the fern should be his cover; | |
| Fern and rosemary shall grow my soldier’s pillow over: | |
| Where the rain may rain upon it, | |
| Where the sun may shine upon it, | |
| Where the lamb hath lain upon it, | 20 |
| And the bee will dine upon it. | |
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| Sunshine in his heart, the rain would come full often | |
| Out of those tender eyes which evermore did soften: | |
| He never could look cold till we saw him in his coffin. | |
| Make his mound with sunshine on it, | 25 |
| Plant the lordly pine upon it, | |
| Where the moon may stream upon it, | |
| And memory shall dream upon it. | |
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| “Captain or Colonel,”—whatever invocation | |
| Suit our hymn the best, no matter for thy station,— | 30 |
| On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! | |
| Long as the sun doth shine upon it | |
| Shall glow the goodly pine upon it, | |
| Long as the stars do gleam upon it | |
| Shall memory come to dream upon it. | 35 |
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