As Life's unending column pours, <br />Two marshalled hosts are seen, <br />Two armies on the trampled shores <br />That Death flows black between. <br /> <br />One marches to the drum-beat's roll, <br />The wide-mouthed clarion's bray, <br />And bears upon a crimson scroll, <br />Our glory is to slay. <br /> <br />One moves in silence by the stream, <br />With sad, yet watchful eyes, <br />Calm as the patient planet's gleam <br />That walks the clouded skies. <br /> <br />Along its front no sabres shine, <br />No blood-red pennons wave; <br />Its banner bears the single line, <br />Our duty is to save. <br /> <br />For those no death-bed's lingering shade; <br />At Honor's trumpet-call, <br />With knitted brow and lifted blade <br />In Glory's arms they fall. <br /> <br />For these no clashing falchions bright, <br />No stirring battle-cry; <br />The bloodless stabber calls by night, <br />Each answers, Here am I! <br /> <br />For those the sculptor's laurelled bust, <br />The builder's marble piles, <br />The anthems pealing oer their dust <br />Through long cathedral aisles. <br /> <br />For these the blossom-sprinkled turf <br />That floods the lonely graves <br />When Spring rolls in her sea-green surf <br />In flowery-foaming waves. <br /> <br />Two paths lead upward from below, <br />And angels wait above, <br />Who count each burning life-drop's flow, <br />Each falling tear of Love. <br /> <br />Though from the Hero's bleeding breast <br />Her pulses Freedom drew, <br />Though the white lilies in her crest <br />Sprang from that scarlet dew, <br /> <br />While Valor's haughty champions wait <br />Till all their scars are shown, <br />Love walks unchallenged through the gate, <br />To sit beside the Throne.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-two-armies-5/
