There are tears and wails in the old brown house <br />On the hillside steep today, <br />Though the sunlight gleams on the outer world <br />There the clouds drift cold and gray. <br />'Only one man killed,' is the tidings read, <br />'Our loss was trifling; we triumphed,' 'twas said - <br />And only here in the home on the hill <br />Did the words breathe aught but of triumph still. <br /> <br />They had watched and waited, had prayed and wept, <br />These loving hearts by the cottage hearth, <br />And the hope was strong that their darling would walk <br />Unscathed and safe mid the battle's wrath. <br />They would have gladly shielded his life from ill, <br />But their trust was all in their Father's will; <br />They had felt so sure his love would save <br />The pride of their heart from a soldier's grave. <br /> <br />Now his wisdom has ordered what most they feared, <br />And their hearts are crushed by the news today, <br />'Only one man killed,' so the telegram reads - <br />But for them life's beauty has passed away, <br />And all the glory and triumph gained <br />Seems a matter small to the woe blood-stained, <br />That was in sorrowful strokes, like a tolling bell, <br />Throbs 'Only one man killed,' as a funeral knell. <br /> <br />'Only one man killed,' - so we read full oft, <br />And rejoice that the loss on our side was small; <br />Forgetting meanwhile that some loving heart <br />Felt all the force of that murderous ball. <br />'Only one man was killed,' comes again and again; <br />One hero more among the martyred lain; <br />'Only one man killed,' carries sorrow for life <br />To those whose darlings fall in strife.<br /><br />Anonymous Americas<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/only-one-man-killed-today/
