Happy are they and charmed in life <br />Who through long wars arrive unscarred <br />At peace. To such the wreath be given, <br />If they unfalteringly have striven - <br />In honor, as in limb, unmarred. <br />Let cheerful praise be rife, <br />And let them live their years at ease, <br />Musing on brothers who victorious died - <br />Loved mates whose memory shall ever please. <br /> <br />And yet mischance is honorable too - <br />Seeming defeat in conflict justified <br />Whose end to closing eyes is hid from view. <br />The will, that never can relent - <br />The aim, survivor of the bafflement, <br />Make this memorial due.<br /><br />Herman Melville<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memorials-on-the-slain-at-chickamauga/
