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Title: The Custer Wail
Author: A. H. Laidlaw [
More Titles by Laidlaw]
Dead! Where the bold and brave
Blend in one bloody grave;
Dead! With no coward clay
Weltering in gore that day.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! With his boys in blue,
Baptized in bloody dew.
Dead! Where his enemy
Fled from his fearless eye.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Like a meteor,
Flashed o'er the field of war.
Dead! With immortal pride,
Glorious and glorified.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the captives sing
Saved by his rifle's ring.
Dead! Where the painted brave
Bled by his gory glaive.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the feathered game
Fell at his deadly aim.
Dead! Where the buffalo
Found him a gallant foe.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the prairie steed
Vainly exerts his speed.
Dead! Where the antlered stag
Dies on the dizzy crag.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the valleys sink
Low to the river's brink.
Dead! Where the mountains spring
Higher than eagle's wing.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the solar glows
Eastward and upward rose.
Dead! Where the evening's gold
Westward and downward rolled.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the streamy vales
Murmur their tender tales.
Dead! Where the ocean's roll
Sobs for the passing soul.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the thicket's throats
Mingle their million notes.
Dead! Where the forests dim
Tone their lone requiem.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where the eagle's scream
Shortens the hunter's dream.
Dead! Where the nightingale
Trills out her lonely tale.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where no maiden fair
Weaves with his waving hair.
Dead! Where no darling sips
Life from his loving lips.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Where no woman's breast,
Robbed of her love and rest,
Flower with a fading leaf,
Sinks in her silent grief.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to me.
Dead! Nevermore to be.
Dead! Nevermore to be.
Dead! Evermore to me.
Dead! Evermore to me.
Dead! Dead! Ah!--Dead to ME!
[The end]
A. H. Laidlaw's poem: Custer Wail
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