Classic Poem

" AT dawn, " he said, " I bid them all farewell,
To go where bugles call and rifles gleam. "
And with the restless thought asleep he fell,
And glided into dream.

A great hot plain from seAto mountain spread, —
Through it a level river slowly drawn:
He moved with a vast crowd, and at its head
Streamed banners like the dawn.

There came a blinding flash, a deafening roar,
And dissonant cries of triumph and dismay;
Blood trickled down the river's reedy shore.
And with the dead he lay.

The morn broke in upon his solemn dream,
And still, with steady pulse and deepening eye,
" Where bugles call, " he said, " and rifles gleam,
I follow, though I die! "