Page:Notes of the Mexican war 1846-47-48.djvu/581

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NOTES OF THE MEXICAN WAR.
575


We are Coming Home.

"We are coming home! The battle's din and strife is passed,
And war's wild notes are hushed in sweet repose;
The cannon's roar and the shrill bugle's blast
Calls out no more for vengeance on our foes.

"We are coming! The shattered remnant of our manhood might;
The few survivors that are left to tell
The tale of woe; how, in the thickest fight,
Like autumn leaves, their comrades round them fell.

"We are coming! The foes we came and fought are foes no more.
A tear for every fallen warrior's tomb;
For through the battle's smoke we always bore
The olive branch besides the eagle's plume.

"We are coming! The winged winds that o'er blue oceans roam
Are waiting now old Neptune's stern command,
To waft our barques over the billows' foam,
And bear the exiles to their native land.

"We are coming, friends! the little band that proudly bore
Your torn Keystone flag through the iron storm;
While high above the fields was seen to soar
Our native eagle's proud and gallant form.

"We are coming! Adieu, ye sunny climes and myrtle groves,
Where Flora reigns within perennial bowers;
And youth and beauty woo their wedded loves,
Mid blooming vales of never fading flowers.

"We are coming! Adieu, ye daughters of a royal line.
We own ye held our hearts in thrall awhile;
But now for maids in other lands we find.
Who will greet the soldier with a welcome smile."

A traditional belief amongst the present inhabitants of this section of country is, that untold treasures are buried around this neighborhood of lakes and rivers. The ruins of Tezeuco, including the foundation of the great pyramid 400 feet square, is close by here; and now it is thickly overgrown with dense lots of chaparral and wild forest trees, and very difficult to get