And one sails away from the lea:
One spreads its white wings on a far-reaching track,
With pennant and sheet flowing free;
One hides in the shadow with sails laid aback,--
The ship that is waiting for me!

But lo, in the distance the clouds break away!
The Gate's glowing portals I see;
And I hear from the outgoing ship in the bay
The song of the sailors in glee:
So I think of the luminous footprints that bore
The comfort o'er dark Galilee,
And wait for the signal to go to the shore,
To the ship that is waiting for me.

* * * * *

=_Charles Dimitry,[103] 1838-._=

=_430._= "THE SERGEANT'S STORY."

Our army lay,
At break of day,
A full league from the foe away.
At set of sun,
The battle done,
We cheered our triumph, dearly won.

* * * * *

All night before,
We marked the roar
Of hostile guns that on us bore;
And 'here and there,
The sudden blare
Of fitful bugles smote the air.

No idle word
The quiet stirred
Among us as the morning neared;
And brows were bent,
As silent went
Unto its post each regiment.

Blank broke the day,
And wan and gray
The drifting clouds went on their way.
So sad the morn,
Our colors torn,
Upon the ramparts drooped forlorn!

At early sun,
The vapors dun
Were lifted by a nearer gun;
At stroke of nine,
Auspicious sign
The sun shone out along the line.

Then loud and clear,
From cannoneer
And rifleman arose a cheer;
For as the gray
Mists cleared away,
We saw the charging foe's array.

[Footnote 103: Of a Louisiana family: is considered one of the most
promising of the young writers of the South. The present is a favorable
specimen of the poetry of the secession writers.]

* * * * *

=_John Hay._=[104]

From "Pike County Ballads."

=_431._= THE PRAIRIE.

The skies are blue above my head,
The prairie green below,
And flickering o'er the tufted grass
The shifting shadows go,
Vague-sailing, where the feathery clouds
Fleck white the tranquil skies,
Black javelins darting where aloft
The whirring pheasant flies.

A glimmering plain in drowsy trance
The dim horizon bounds,
Where all the air is resonant
With sleepy summer