Picket Guard
All quiet and calm, lies the broad battle plain,
When heroes by hundreds lay sleeping,
They hear not the wail that has gone over the land,
They heed not the eyes that are weeping,
Theres many afond mother mourns for her boy,
And many a maid for her Lover,
And many a wife sits in sadness and gloom,
Lamenting the days that are over.
When the contest was raging with fury and might,
On that scene now so calm in its beauty,
A soldier was seen in the midst of the fight,
Never flinching from danger, or duty.
Deaths carnival raged, and the shot and the shell,
In the hot air around him were flying,
But he heeded them not, till he sank to the ground,
And the hero and soldier lay dying.
Oh Father! forgive for the sake of thy son,
Receive now my soul in thy Keeping,
Farewell, darling wife, I shall see you no more,
Soon this form in the grave will be sleeping,
He took from his breast, where it lay through the strife,
A picture he looked on with pleasure,
He pressed his pale lips to the form he loved best,
Thanking God for so precious a treasure.
My darlings in vain for my coming you wait,
Your Father, who loves you is dying,
Good Angels are waiting to bear me away,
Not alone on the field am I dying.
Frankie and Alice and dear little Fred,
No more shall I hear your sweet prattle,
Or feel your soft Kisses upon my rough cheek,
Farewell! I have fought my last battle:
Then dear ones be good, and your mother obey,
And grieve not her heart in its sadness,
Remember your father with Kindness and love,
How he died for his country with gladness,
My eyes growing dim and my pulse beating slow,
I feel that my heart strings are riven,
The shadows have passed… dearest Wife I must go
Bring the children and meet me in Heaven.
The Civil War Gazette (est. 1995) 