Classic Poem

Twenty Years Ago

I STAND and count the flying years upon my fingers, thus:
Five, ten, fifteen, and twenty, — an age it seems to us
Since, flinging down our haversacks, unstripping belt and gun,
We bade good-bye to want and war that day at Washington.
The bronze was in our faces and the sheen was in our eyes,
Though the fighting had been awful, boys, — this fact we can't disguise;
But we strode with sturdy paces, and our hearts were all aglow,
For Youth and Love they beckoned us — just twenty years ago.

Now, we scan each others' faces to see if we can tell
'Neath bleaching locks, the boyish traits we learned to love so well,
Or can tell the slender comrade, the rollicking, the gay,
In that doughty dignitary who steps so slow to-day;
To learn if live the gallant boys who laughed at Rebel lead,
If there were any foes to fight, or any fun ahead,
Who knew the sign and countersign, and gave the quick hollo,
When prowling round the picket-line — yes, twenty years ago.

And how have gone the years with you, O comrades tried and true,
Since laying down the musket and casting off the blue?
And where is pitched your bivouac? Who messes with you now?
And are you training new recruits to toe the mark? And how
Are rations with you, comrades? What, a little short, you say?
Though you forage late and early, your prizes slip away?
But you camp in snugger quarters, aye, comrades, this we know,
Than when wrapped within your blankets — more than twenty years ago.

Hark! hark! Yon mighty rumbling! Again and yet again!
What mean those angry echoes in the piney woods of Maine?
'Tis not the rolling tempest, the crash of rudders dashed
Against the grinding granite, the forelands ocean-lashed!
'Tis not the wrath of earthquakes come creeping through the seas,
From the ragings of Vesuvius, the battered walls of Greece!
Boom! boom! The valleys tremble, the hills are rocking low:
It is the blast of Battle — four-and-twenty years ago!

Boom! boom! The guns of Sumter are thundering at our doors,
Above the beetling breakers the tide of battle pours;
The oath of War is spoken, from mouth to mouth it runs, —
And over in Skowhegan the women man the guns.
Boom! boom! It is the call for me, it is the call for you!
Boom! boom! for men of mettle to don the Union blue;
The long-roll it is sounding, it wakened with a blow
The bivouac of ages — four-and-twenty years ago!

Swing out your flags, O comrades, and keep your paces true,
For Freedom calls for valiant men when she has work to do!
Lo, there are mothers praying and wives to speak " Good cheer, "
And there are children pleading — God grant the end be near!
And there are comrades dying, their whispers thrill us yet, —
O mute and mournful memories we never can forget!
" Go, tell her that her flag and mine I saved ere stricken low, — "
Ah, comrades! sad the messages of twenty years ago!

Let others sing the songs of War: we sing the songs of Peace;
The splendors of the battle pale before such thoughts as these;
For ours was not the march of hate, of devastating band,
To set the falcons of despoil a-flying through the land;
We knew no braggart boast of arms, we had no wish to roam,
Our feet sped on where duty called, our hearts were still at home;
On weary march, in dreary camp, our ranks were all aglow,
If but the mails a letter brought — aye, twenty years ago.

O comrades, hand-in-hand upon the headland heights of Maine —
The State that never lost a flag, that never charged in vain, —
What see you on the Westward line? What see you at the South,
Where June is wreathing roses within the cannon's mouth?
What see you there at Gettysburg? The brooding wings of Love,
The violets a-blowing the Blue and Gray above!
Span mountain unto mountain, link vale to vale, and lo,
It is the Arch of Peace we fashioned twenty years ago!

O Nation great, State linked to State in bonds that none can break,
From Ocean unto Ocean, from Gulf to Northern lake!
State linked to State, fate linked to fate, in mart and mint and mine,
In rolling plain of golden grain, in toss of plumy pine!
State linked to State in goodly fate that sounds the swift advance,
Where banners that have wooed the world before our legions dance!
This is the dream that crowns our years; and when our heads are low,
Float out, float on, O Union flag, as twenty years ago!English