| |
| OH, did you see him riding down, | |
| And riding down, while all the town | |
| Came out to see, came out to see, | |
| And all the bells rang mad with glee? | |
| |
| Oh, did you hear those bells ring out, | 5 |
| The bells ring out, the people shout, | |
| And did you hear that cheer on cheer | |
| That over all the bells rang clear? | |
| |
| And did you see the waving flags, | |
| The fluttering flags, the tattered flags, | 10 |
| Red, white, and blue, shot through and through, | |
| Baptized with battle’s deadly dew? | |
| |
| And did you hear the drums’ gay beat, | |
| The drums’ gay beat, the bugles sweet, | |
| The cymbals’ clash, the cannons’ crash, | 15 |
| That rent the sky with sound and flash? | |
| |
| And did you see me waiting there, | |
| Just waiting there and watching there, | |
| One little lass, amid the mass | |
| That pressed to see the hero pass? | 20 |
| |
| And did you see him smiling down, | |
| And smiling down, as riding down | |
| With slowest pace, with stately grace, | |
| He caught the vision of a face,— | |
| |
| My face uplifted red and white, | 25 |
| Turned red and white with sheer delight | |
| To meet the eyes, the smiling eyes, | |
| Outflashing in their swift surprise? | |
| |
| Oh, did you see how swift it came, | |
| How swift it came, like sudden flame, | 30 |
| That smile to me, to only me, | |
| The little lass who blushed to see? | |
| |
| And at the windows all along, | |
| Oh, all along, a lovely throng | |
| Of faces fair, beyond compare, | 35 |
| Beamed out upon him riding there! | |
| |
| Each face was like a radiant gem, | |
| A sparkling gem, and yet for them | |
| No swift smile came, like sudden flame, | |
| No arrowy glance took certain aim. | 40 |
| |
| He turned away from all their grace, | |
| From all that grace of perfect face, | |
| He turned to me, to only me, | |
| The little lass who blushed to see! | |
| |
