‘MISSING.’

’Twas after Talavera, on an evening dark and gray;

We had returned from the fight, after a bloody day;

And we called the muster over; but one answered not the call:

’Twas the youngest, and the noblest, and the bravest of us all.

He had dared the direst dangers of that dread and dear-bought day,

For he had been the foremost in the fury of the fray;

But a solemn silence answered when we called him on the roll,

And we knew that we had lost him—and that heaven had gained a soul.

The night was closing chill and dim, and stars were in the sky,

When forth we went to look for him—the battle-field was nigh;

The moon shone out to aid us in our grim and ghostly quest,

As we turned the brave men over that were lying there—at rest.

Where the fight had waxed the fiercest, on the margin of the field,

We found him, grasping hard the sword he never more might wield!

There was glory on his visage, like a rosy light, or flood,

Though his golden hair was dabbled with his swiftly-flowing blood.

Oh, rev’rently we lifted him, and wiped away the stain

That marred the bright young forehead, where a mother’s kiss had lain.

We loosed the things about his breast, but turned aside—for there

We saw a maiden’s picture, and a tender lock of hair!

He was not dead: he strove to smile; he lifted up his hands—

But Death had turned the hour-glass, and was counting out the sands!

We were rough and hardened soldiers, and we could not mourn, because

He was dying for his country—like the hero that he was.

We laid him on the litter; but he neither spoke nor moved;

And tenderly we bore him to the comrades that he loved.

He was dead long ere we laid him on the mossy patch of ground—

But we hoped he did not suffer—for he died without a sound!

We have bled in many a battle, we have fought in many a fray,

But that night at Talavera is as fresh as yesterday;

And his name upon the muster-roll in fancy oft we call,

For we loved him, as the noblest and the bravest of us all.

Nannie Power O’Donoghue.

Printed and Published by W. & R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.