Williams and Sedgwick and Sykes, Slocum and Howard and Hancock,
Soul-sick with pity and loss, yet steadily acting the soldier,
Man after man answered No. They were all one will; and their Captain
Gripped the huge host as a sword, that was utterly his for the wielding.
—So the warm bright night drew on to the Day of decision.
III
Day crept wan on the world. ’Twas the hour when the birds in the branches
One after one awake, in the dewy cool and the dimness,
Small sweet voices of joy, praising the sunlight that shall be.
Silvery the hour, and a semblance of death in the birth of the morning;