MARCH ALONG by George Henry Boker (1823-1890)

Soldiers are we from the mountain and valley, Soldiers are we from the hill and the plain; Under the flag of our fathers we rally; Death, for its sake, is but living again. Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! We have a history told of our nation, We have a name that must never go down; Heroes achieved it through toil and privation; Bear it on, bright with its ancient renown! Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! Who that shall dare say the flag waving o'er us, Which floated in glory from Texas to Maine, Must fall, where our ancestors bore it before us. Writes his own fate on the roll of the slain. Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! Look at it, traitors, and blush to behold it! Quail as it flashes its stars in the sun! Think you a hand in the nation will fold it, While there's a hand that can level a gun? Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! Carry it onward till victory earn it The rights it once owned in the land of the free; Then, in God's name, in our fury we'll turn it Full on the treachery over the sea! Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! England shall feel what a vengeance the liar Stores in the bosom he aims to deceive; England shall feel how God's truth can inspire; England shall feel it, but only to grieve. Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along! Peace shall unite us again and forever Though thousands lie cold in the graves of these wars; Those who survive them shall never prove, never False to the flag of the stripes and the stars! Then march along, gay and strong, March to battle with a song! March, march along!

Soldier Life