INTO a ward of the white-washed halls, Where the dead and dying lay,②Wounded by bayonets,shells, and balls,
Somebody"s Darling was borne one day- Somebody"s Darling, so young and so brave,Wearing yet on his pale sweet face, Soon to be hid by the dust of the grave,The lingering light of his boyhood"s grace.
Matted and damp are the curls of gold.
Kissing the snow of that fair young brow; Pale are the lips of delicate mould-Somebody"s Darling is dying now.
Back from his beautiful blue-veined brow Brush all the wandering waves of gold;Cross his hands on his bosom now- Somebody"s Darling is still and cold.
Kiss him once for Somebody"s sake, Murmur a prayer soft and low;One bright curl from its fair mates take- They were Somebody"s pride, you know:
Somebody"s hand had rested there; Was it a mother"s, soft and white?
And have the lips of a sister fair
Been baptized in the waves of light?
God knows best. He has Somebody"s love; Somebody"s heart enshrined him there;Somebody wafted his name aboveNight and morn on the wings of prayer. Somebody wept when he marched away,Looking so handsome, brave, and grand; Somebody"s kiss on his forehead lay,Somebody clung to his parting hand.
Somebody"s waiting and watching for him- Yearning to hold him again to her heart;And there he lies, with his blue eyes dim, And the smiling, childlike lips apart.
Tenderly bury the fair young dead, Pausing to drop on his grave a tear;Carve on the wooden slab at his head, -"Somebody"s Darling slumbers here"- MRS. LACOSTE
WORDS
delicate, refined. enshrined, cherished. handsome, graceful. lingering, lagging. matted, twisted together. murmur, whisper.
pausing, waiting. slumbers, sleeps. tenderly, gently. wafted, floated. wandering, straggling. yearning, longing.
NOTES
① Somebody"s Darling.-This poem, suggested by an incident in the American Civil War (1861-65), draws a touching picture of a scene only too common in warfare, though seldom realized except by those whom it nearly concerns. A young soldier is badly wounded and taken prisoner on the field of battle. He is carried into the surgeons" ward to have his wounds tended. He gradually sinks and dies, leaving no trace of name, or home, or friend. He is laid in a nameless grave; while those whose darling he is deplore his absence in uncertainty of his real fate, knowing not whether to mourn or to long for him.
② Bayonet, a spear fixed on the end of a gun: so called from Bayonne in France, wherethe arm was first made.
