Greenfield Sentinel The Soldiers Dream

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SELECT POETRY.
From the Greenfield Sentinel.
THE SOLDIERS DREAM.

BY UNKNOWN.

'Tis night, and the darkening shades gather
round,
O'er the mountain, the valley and wood;
The soft dews, like tear-drops, are steeping
the ground,
And the trees in the dark solitude.
The bright stars, the sentinel watchers of
night,
Gleam forth like the beacons of love;
And the camp fires burn with a wavering
light,
While the moon keeps her vigils above.

Soft is the flow of the murmuring rill,
And sweet is the zephyrs' low sigh;
The sentinel is seen on the far distant hill,
In relief 'gainst the star-spangled sky;
Weary and worn with the toils of the day
The soldier lies down on his bed;
The damp ground his couch where his weary
limbs lay,
And the heavens his covering o'er head.

He sleeps and he dreams of his <u>dear native
home</u>, <''underlined in pencil''>
And the <u>loved one</u> awaiting him there, <''underlined in pencil''>
And visions of radiant happiness come
And dissolve the dark shadows of care;
The loved ones are near him, they press to
his side-
His toils and his battles are o'er;
He kisses the brow of his dear happy bride,
And sighs-I am with you once more.
He weeps in his joy and he smiles in delight
As his mind spans the passage of years;
And the cheek that ne'er blanched in the
front of the fight
Is bedewed with love's radiant tears.
Oh, the angels look down from their man-
sions above,
And the winds whisper soft round his bed,
And tint all his dreams with the bright
hues of love,
As they gently sigh over his head.

Oh, would that this dream would not break
with the morn!
But our joys are all transient and fleet;
The charm is dissolved by the echoing horn,
And the soldier springs up to his feet.
The morning is dawning with radiant light-
A bright halo covers the plain;
The soldier has girded himself for the fight,
And goes forth to the battle again.

His vision of love has now vanished afar-
In his breast new emotions now burn:
And the soldier is launched 'mid the horrors
of war,
While the loved ones still wait his return;
But ever, when fall the soft shadows of
night,
Wherever his footsteps may roam,
His heart will return to those dreams of de-
light
To the loved ones that wait him at home.