<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472616" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Two Armies</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">As Life's unending column pours,<br>Two marshalled hosts are seen,­<br>Two armies on the trampled shores<br>That Death flows black between.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One marches to the drum-beat's roll,<br>The wide-mouthed clarion's bray,<br>And bears upon a crimson scroll,<br>Our glory is to slay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One moves in silence by the stream,<br>With sad, yet watchful eyes,<br>Calm as the patient planet's gleam<br>That walks the clouded skies.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Along its front no sabres shine,<br>No blood-red pennons wave;<br>Its banner bears the single line,<br>Our duty is to save.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For those no death-bed's lingering shade;<br>At Honor's trumpet-call,<br>With knitted brow and lifted blade<br>In Glory's arms they fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For these no clashing falchions bright,<br>No stirring battle-cry;<br>The bloodless stabber calls by night,­<br>Each answers, Here am I!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For those the sculptor's laurelled bust,<br>The builder's marble piles,<br>The anthems pealing oer their dust<br>Through long cathedral aisles.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For these the blossom-sprinkled turf<br>That floods the lonely graves<br>When Spring rolls in her sea-green surf<br>In flowery-foaming waves.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Two paths lead upward from below,<br>And angels wait above,<br>Who count each burning life-drop's flow,<br>Each falling tear of Love.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though from the Hero's bleeding breast<br>Her pulses Freedom drew,<br>Though the white lilies in her crest<br>Sprang from that scarlet dew,­</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While Valor's haughty champions wait<br>Till all their scars are shown,<br>Love walks unchallenged through the gate,<br>To sit beside the Throne.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Oliver+Wendell+Holmes">Oliver Wendell Holmes</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472616" data-title="The Two Armies de Oliver Wendell Holmes" data-description="As Life's unending column pours, Two marshalled hosts are seen,­ Two armies on the trampled shores That Death flows black between. One marches to the drum-beat's roll, The wide-mouthed clarion's bray, And bears upon a crimson scroll, Our glory i..."></div> </div> </div>

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