| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | V. Colonel Frederick Taylor | | By Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903) |
| | (Gettysburg, July 3, 1863)
MANY the ways that lead to death, but few | |
| Grandly, and one alone is glory’s gate,— | |
| Standing wherever free men dare their fate, | |
| Determined, as thou wert, to die—or do! | |
| This thou hast passed, young soldier, storming through | 5 |
| The fiery darkness round it,—not too late | |
| To know the invaders beaten from thy State,— | |
| Ah, why too soon to rout them, and pursue? | |
| But some must fall as thou hast fallen; some | |
| Remain to fight, and fall another day; | 10 |
| And some go down in peace to their long rest. | |
| If ’t were not now, it would be still to come; | |
| And whether now, or when thy hairs were gray, | |
| Were fittest for thee—God alone knows best. | | | | |
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