A MARCH IN THE RANKS HARD-PREST, AND THE ROAD UNKNOWN.
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march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown,A route through a heavy wood with muffled steps in the darkness,Our army foil'd with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating,Till after midnight glimmer upon us the lights of a dim-lightedbuilding,We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lightedbuilding,'Tis a large old church at the crossing roads, now an impromptuhospital,Entering but for a minute I see a sight beyond all the pictures andpoems ever made,Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles andlamps,And by one great pitchy torch stationary with wild red flame andclouds of smoke,By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some inthe pews laid down,At my feet more distinctly a soldier, a mere lad, in danger ofbleeding to death, (he is shot in the abdomen,)I staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as alily,)Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o'er the scene fain to absorb itall,Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity,some of them dead,Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether,the odor of blood,The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms, the yard outside alsofill'd,Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers, some in thedeath-spasm sweating,An occasional scream or cry, the doctor's shouted orders or calls,The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of thetorches,These I resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor,Then hear outside the orders given, _Fall in, my men, fall in_;But first I bend to the dying lad, his eyes open, a half-smile giveshe me,Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,Resuming, marching, ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,The unknown road still marching.
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