HONOR BRIGHT.
The rush of men, the clash of arms,
The morning stillness broke,
And followed fast the fresh alarms,
The clouds of battle-smoke.
The Seine still bore a lurid light,
As down its ripples run,
Where late had shone the fires at night,
The rosy rifts of sun.
“Shoot every man,” the captain cried,
“That dares our way oppose!”
Like water ran the crimson tide,
Like clouds the smoke arose.
They forward rushed, the streets they cleared,—
But ere the work was done,
Before the troop a boy appeared,
And bore the boy a gun.
“Thou too shalt die,” the captain said.
The boy stopped calmly there,
And sweet and low the music played
Amid the silenced air.
“Hold!” cried the boy; “a moment wait.
For, ere I meet my end,
I would return this watch, that late
I borrowed of my friend.”
“Return a watch?” The captain frowned.
“Your meaning I discern;
Such honest lads are seldom found:
And when would you return?”
“At once!” the hero makes reply;
“As soon as e’er I can;
I will return, and I will die
As nobly as a man!”
“Well, go!” The lordly bugle blew,
And said the man, with joy,
“Right glad am I to lose him, too,
I would not harm the boy.”