On The Slain At Chickamauga

by Herman Melville

　　

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Happy are they and charmed in life Who through long wars arrive unscarredAt peace. To such the wreath be given,If they unfalteringly have striven— In honor, as in limb, unmarred.Let cheerful praise be rife, And let them live their years at ease,Musing on brothers who victorious died— Loved mates whose memory shall ever please.And yet mischance is honorable too— Seeming defeat in conflict justifiedWhose end to closing eyes is hid from view.The will, that never can relent—The aim, survivor of the bafflement, Make this memorial due.

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