I will rear him tenderly, a life apart.”
But the day came and the hour came,
And the foul deed struck him like a spur;
And he felt the shame and the swift flame,
And his eyes were strange to her.
In the dreams of the night had the old Captains come to him,
And the staunch old Admirals that died long ago;
From the old fields of fight came the roll of the drum to him,
With a call that his mother could not know;
It seemed that a Sword gleamed blinding-bright