  A Poem of Six Stanzas in Blank Verse. [Image of text decoraton unvailable.] SOLFERINO.I.On Solferino’s dizzy heights there grew The bright green grass and here and there were seen The golden hues of flow’rets shining fair, The bright, warm sunshine sparkled on the world And all the cloudlets of the azure sky Dark shadows threw upon the happy scene. II.But on the crest of that tall cliff there frowned The battered walls the battlements and tow’rs, And in the castle Solferino’s prince Walked to and fro and ’round him stood his men. And ere the heart had time to falter once Was heard the deafening rolling cannon’s roar. III.“The foe has come!” They flew to arms, and ere The echoes quite had died away, they gave Forth shot for shot and shout for shout. Then was thy life-blood spilt! That day Was one of woe to thee Sardinia! Those lives have left forevermore this earth. IV.Then came the awful ravage of the fray: The cannon’s roar, the dying’s groan, the sounds of war. And ev’rywhere was blood—the verdure was Beneath the hard foot trampled and the day Turned dark beneath the reign of chaos wild. V.The Mincio’s waters drifted toward the sea. But ever on its bosom wild was borne The life-blood of the soldier’s in the fray. Ah! red as blood its once clear waters were, And on its banks the same dread curse prevailed. VI.Thus man shall slay and man shall die until The time when his wild fury thus unchecked Shall spend itself and once relapse away. Oh! may man’s conscience soon awake to learn The wild disaster that his fury wrought. |
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