Page:Poems Piatt.djvu/185

HEARING THE BATTLE. [July 21, 1861.]

One day in the dreamy summer,
 On the Sabbath hills, from afar
We heard the solemn echoes
 Of the first fierce words of war.

A, tell me, thou veiléd Watcher
 Of the storm and the calm to come,
How long by the sun or shadow
 Till these noises again are dumb.

And soon in a hush and glimmer
 We thought of the dark, strange fight,
Whose close in a ghastly quiet
 Lay dim in the beautiful night.

Then we talked of coldness and pallor,
 And of things with blinded eyes
That stared at the golden stillness
 Of the moon in those lighted skies;