Written On The Eve Of Execution by Chidiock Tichborne

My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
…My feat of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
…And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
My life is fled, and yet I saw no sun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

My tale was heard, and yet it was not told;
…My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green;
My youth is spent, and yet I am not old;
…I saw the world, and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death and found it in the womb,
…I lookt for life and saw it was a shade,
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
…And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and now my life is done.

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Reluctance by Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods
…And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
…And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
…And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
…Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
…And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
…When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
…No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
…The flowers of the witch hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
…But the feet question “Whither?”

Ah, when to the heart of man
…Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
…To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
…Of a love or a season?

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Sherman’s In Savannah by Oliver Wendell Holmes

…Like the tribes of Israel,
…Fed on quails and manna,
Sherman and his glorious band
Journeyed through the rebel land,
Fed from Heaven’s all-bounteous hand,
…Marching on Savannah!

…As the moving pillar shone,
…Streamed the starry banner
All day long in rosy light,
Flaming splendor all the night,
Till it swooped in eagle flight
…Down on doomed Savannah!

…Glory be to God on high!
…Shout the loud Hosanna!
Treason’s wilderness is past,
Canaan’s shore is won at last,
Peal a nation’s trumpet-blast, –
…Sherman’s in Savannah!

…Soon shall Richmond’s tough old hide
…Find a tough old tanner!
Soon from every rebel wall
Shall the rag of treason fall,
Till our banner flaps o’er all
…As it crowns Savannah!

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The Soul Unto Itself by Emily Dickinson

The Soul unto itself
Is an imperial friend –
Or the most agonizing Spy –
An Enemy – could send –

Secure against its own –
No treason it can fear –
Itself – its Sovereign – of itself
The Soul should stand in Awe.

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Army Hymn by Oliver Wendell Holmes

…………….“Old Hundred”

O Lord of Hosts! Almighty King!
Behold the sacrifice we bring!
To every arm thy strength impart,
Thy spirit shed through every heart! 

Wake in our breasts the living fires,
The holy faith that warmed our sires;
Thy hand hath made our Nation free;
To die for her is serving Thee. 

Be Thou a pillared flame to show
The midnight snare, the silent foe;
And when the battle thunders loud,
Still guide us in its moving cloud. 

God of all Nations! Sovereign Lord!
In thy dread name we draw the sword,
We lift the starry flag on high
That fills with light our stormy sky. 

From treason’s rent, from murder’s stain,
Guard Thou its folds till Peace shall reign, –
Till fort and field, till shore and sea,
Join our loud anthem, PRAISE TO THEE!

 

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