YES, “Let the tent be struck”: victorious morning
Through every crevice flashes in a day
Magnificent beyond all earth’s adorning:
The night is over; wherefore should he stay?
And wherefore should our voices choke to say,
“The General has gone forward”?
Life’s foughten field not once beheld surrender;
But with superb endurance, present, past,
Our pure commander, lofty, simple, tender,
Through good, through ill, held his high purpose fast,
Wearing his armor spotless, – till at last
Death gave the final “Forward!”
All hearts grew sudden palsied: Yet what said he
Thus summoned? – “Let the tent be struck!” – For when
Did call of duty fail to find him ready
Nobly to do his work in sight of men,
For God’s and for his country’s sake – and then
To watch, wait, or go forward?
We will not weep, – we dare not! Such a story
As his large life writes on the century’s years,
Should crowd our bosoms with a flush of glory,
That manhood’s type, supremest that appears
To-day, he shows the ages. Nay, no tears
Because he has gone forward!
Gone forward? – whither? Where the marshalled legions,
Christ’s well-worn soldiers, from their conflicts cease, –
Where Faith’s true Red-Cross Knights repose in regions
Thick-studded with the calm, white tents of peace, –
Thither, right joyful to accept release,
The General has gone forward!
(Margaret Junkin Preston)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Death & Dying Poems, War & Peace Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Christianity Poems, Success Poems, Past Poems, Jesus Christ Poems, Present PoemsBased on Keywords: foughten, red-cross, thick-studded