619753Poems — To a Friend1849James Thomas Fields

TO A FRIEND.

Go, with a manly heart,
Where courage leads the brave,—
High thoughts, not years, have stamped their part,
Who shunned the coward's grave.

Clear, to the eye of youth,
Their record stands enrolled,
Who held aloft the flag of Truth,
Nor slept beneath its fold.

They heard the trumpet sound
Where hosts to battle trod,
And marched along that burning ground;
Fear not! they rest with God.

Like them advance in love,
And upward bend thy sight;
Win Faith through Prayer; He rules above
Who still protects the right.