| |
| TO 1 drum-beat and heart-beat | |
| A soldier marches by: | |
| There is color in his cheek, | |
| There is courage in his eye, | |
| Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat | 5 |
| In a moment he must die. | |
| |
| By starlight and moonlight, | |
| He seeks the Briton’s camp; | |
| He hears the rustling flag, | |
| And the armèd sentry’s tramp; | 10 |
| And the starlight and moonlight | |
| His silent wanderings lamp. | |
| |
| With slow tread and still tread, | |
| He scans the tented line; | |
| And he counts the battery guns | 15 |
| By the gaunt and shadowy pine; | |
| And his slow tread and still tread | |
| Gives no warning sign. | |
| |
| The dark wave, the plumed wave, | |
| It meets his eager glance; | 20 |
| And it sparkles ’neath the stars, | |
| Like the glimmer of a lance— | |
| A dark wave, a plumed wave, | |
| On an emerald expanse. | |
| |
| A sharp clang, a steel clang, | 25 |
| And terror in the sound! | |
| For the sentry, falcon-eyed, | |
| In the camp a spy hath found; | |
| With a sharp clang, a steel clang, | |
| The patriot is bound. | 30 |
| |
| With calm brow, steady brow, | |
| He listens to his doom; | |
| In his look there is no fear, | |
| Nor a shadow-trace of gloom; | |
| But with calm brow and steady brow | 35 |
| He robes him for the tomb. | |
| |
| In the long night, the still night, | |
| He kneels upon the sod; | |
| And the brutal guards withhold | |
| E’en the solemn Word of God! | 40 |
| In the long night, the still night, | |
| He walks where Christ hath trod. | |
| |
| ’Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, | |
| He dies upon the tree; | |
| And he mourns that he can lose | 45 |
| But one life for Liberty; | |
| And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, | |
| His spirit-wings are free. | |
| |
| But his last words, his message-words, | |
| They burn, lest friendly eye | 50 |
| Should read how proud and calm | |
| A patriot could die, | |
| With his last words, his dying words, | |
| A soldier’s battle-cry. | |
| |
| From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, | 55 |
| From monument and urn, | |
| The sad of earth, the glad of heaven, | |
| His tragic fate shall learn; | |
| And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf | |
| The name of HALE shall burn! | 60 |
