Ontario Readers Third Book, The

<h2><SPAN name="Camp" id="Camp"></SPAN>THE SONG IN CAMP</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span>"Give us a song!" the soldiers cried,<br/></span> <span class="i1">The outer trenches guarding,<br/></span> <span>When the heated guns of the camps allied<br/></span> <span class="i1">Grew weary of bombarding.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>The dark Redan, in silent scoff,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Lay, grim and threatening, under;<br/></span> <span>And the tawny mound of the Malakoff<br/></span> <span class="i1">No longer belched its thunder.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>There was a pause. A guardsman said:<br/></span> <span class="i1">"We storm the forts to-morrow;<br/></span> <span>Sing while we may, another day<br/></span> <span class="i1">Will bring enough of sorrow."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>They lay along the battery's side,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Below the smoking cannon:<br/></span> <span>Brave hearts, from Severn and from Clyde,<br/></span> <span class="i1">And from the banks of Shannon.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>They sang of love, and not of fame;<br/></span> <span class="i1">Forgot was Britain's glory:<br/></span> <span>Each heart recalled a different name,<br/></span> <span class="i1">But all sang "Annie Laurie."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Voice after voice caught up the song,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Until its tender passion<br/></span> <span>Rose like an anthem, rich and strong,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i1">Their battle-eve confession.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Dear girl, her name he dared not speak,<br/></span> <span class="i1">But, as the song grew louder,<br/></span> <span>Something upon the soldier's cheek<br/></span> <span class="i1">Washed off the stains of powder.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Beyond the darkening ocean burned<br/></span> <span class="i1">The bloody sunset's embers,<br/></span> <span>While the Crimean valleys learned<br/></span> <span class="i1">How English love remembers.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>And once again a fire of hell<br/></span> <span class="i1">Rained on the Russian quarters,<br/></span> <span>With scream of shot, and burst of shell,<br/></span> <span class="i1">And bellowing of the mortars!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>And Irish Nora's eyes are dim<br/></span> <span class="i1">For a singer, dumb and gory;<br/></span> <span>And English Mary mourns for him<br/></span> <span class="i1">Who sang of "Annie Laurie."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Sleep, soldiers! still in honoured rest<br/></span> <span class="i1">Your truth and valour wearing:<br/></span> <span>The bravest are the tenderest,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i1">The loving are the daring.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="citation"><span class="smcap">Bayard Taylor</span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />