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Go to thy home, rejoicing son and brother!
Bear in fresh gladness to the household scene!
For me, too, watch the sister and the mother,
I well believe-but dark seas roll between.

THE SOLDIER'S DEATH-BED.

"Wie herrlich die Sonne dort untergeht! da ich noch ein Bube war -war's mein Lieblingsgedanke, wie sie zu leben, wie sie zu sterben!" DIE RAUBER.

LIKE thee to die, thou sun!-My boyhood's dream
Was this; and now my spirit, with thy beam,
Ebbs from a field of victory !-yet the hour
Bears back upon me, with a torrent's power,
Nature's deep longings. Oh! for some kind eye
Wherein to meet love's fervent farewell gaze;
Some breast to pillow life's last agony,
Some voice, to speak of home and better days,
Beyond the pass of shadows! But I go,
I that have been so loved, go hence alone;
And ye, now gathering round my own hearth's glow,
Sweet friends! it may be that a softer tone,
Ev'n in this moment, with your laughing glee,
Mingles its cadence while you speak of me-
Of me, your soldier, midst the mountains lying,
On the red banner of his battles dying,
Far, far away! And oh! your parting prayer-
Will not his name be fondly murmur'd there?
It will!-A blessing on that holy hearth!
Though clouds are darkening to o'ercast its mirth.
Mother! I may not hear thy voice again;
Sisters! ye watch to greet my step in vain;
Young brother, fare thee well!-on each dear head
Blessing and love a thousandfold be shed,
My soul's last earthly breathings! May your home
Smile for you ever!-May no winter come,
Noworld, between your hearts! May ev'n your tears,
For my sake, full of long-remember'd years,
Quicken the true affections that entwine
Your lives in one bright bond! I may not sleep
Amidst our fathers, where those tears might shine
Over my slumbers; yet your love will keep
My memory living in th' ancestral halls,
Where shame hath never trod. The dark night falls,
And I depart. The brave are gone to rest,
The brothers of my combats, on the breast
Of the red field they reap'd:-their work is done-
Thou, too, art set!-farewell, farewell, thou sun!
The last lone watcher of the bloody sod
Offers a trusting spirit up to God.

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