1."CORPORAL GREEN!" the orderly cried;"Here!" was the answer,loud and clear,From the lips of a soldier standing near;And "here!" was the word the next replied. "Cyrus Drew!" and a silence fell;This time nanswer followed the call;Only his rear man saw him fall,Killed or wounded he could not tell.
2.There they stood in the fading light,These men of battle,with grave,dark looks,As plain tbe read as open books,While slowly gathered the shades of night.The fern on the slope was splashed with blood,And down in the corn,where the poppies grew,Were redder stains than the poppies knew;And crimson-dyed was the river's flood.
3.For the foe had crossed from the other side That day,in the face of a murderous fire That swept them down in its terrible ire;And their lifeblood went tcolor the tide. "Herbert Cline!" At the call there cameTwstalwart soldiers intthe line,Bearing between them Herbert Cline,Wounded and bleeding,tanswer his name.
4."Ezra Kerr!" and a voice said "here!" "Hiram Kerr!" but nman replied:
They were brothers,these two;the sad wind sighed,And a shudder crept through the cornfield near. "Ephraim Deane!"-then a soldier spoke:
"Deane carried our regiment's colors," he said,"When our ensign was shot;I left him dead,Just after the enemy wavered and broke.
5."Close tthe roadside his body lies;I paused a moment and gave him tdrink;He murmured his mother's name,I think;And death came with it and closed his eyes." 'T was a victory-yes;but it cost us dear;For that company's roll,when called at night,Of a hundred men whwent intthe fight,Numbered but twenty that answered "here!"
-Shepherd.
