The battery grides and jingles, <br />Mile succeeds to mile; <br />Shaking the noonday sunshine <br />The guns lunge out awhile, <br />And then are still awhile. <br /> <br />We amble along the highway; <br />The reeking, powdery dust <br />Ascends and cakes our faces <br />With a striped, sweaty crust. <br /> <br />Under the still sky's violet <br />The heat throbs on the air…. <br />The white road's dusty radiance <br />Assumes a dark glare. <br /> <br />With a head hot and heavy, <br />And eyes that cannot rest, <br />And a black heart burning <br />In a stifled breast, <br /> <br />I sit in the saddle, <br />I feel the road unroll, <br />And keep my senses straightened <br />Toward to-morrow's goal. <br /> <br />There, over unknown meadows <br />Which we must reach at last, <br />Day and night thunders <br />A black and chilly blast. <br /> <br />Heads forget heaviness, <br />Hearts forget spleen, <br />For by that mighty winnowing <br />Being is blown clean. <br /> <br />Light in the eyes again, <br />Strength in the hand, <br />A spirit dares, dies, forgives, <br />And can understand! <br /> <br />And, best! Love comes back again <br />After grief and shame, <br />And along the wind of death <br />Throws a clean flame. <br /> <br />The battery grides and jingles, <br />Mile succeeds to mile; <br />Suddenly battering the silence <br />The guns burst out awhile…. <br /> <br />I lift my head and smile.<br /><br />Robert Nichols<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-day-s-march/
