John Stalker Price

West Point, 1964

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Bob Warfield on May 1, 2018:

The curtain falls. Fare thee well now Jack. While we're apart, With us remain. Unto these distant cosmic clouds Ascend in storm and vesper; All claims released but nigh Unto thy vestments where We children in your fashion Shall attempt, by all example, Shown, the mettle of your course, Our noblest cause, by limbs That lay aside the woodsman's axe The husbandry of all labor, The field and hearth, and From affections loosing embrace, Limber up the arm and brace The yeoman's sword and call. Unto the commons summoned; Past the brook, the school where Classmates danced and built A loom, combed from nature's Layered store, where dreams Departing, journeyed wide, 'Ere to the brethren flag, In affirmation spent of youth, 'Till peace affirmed good stillness And humility, a squire's share, For a knight's past; and where, But for the creature's stirring, Rambunctious frogs in croaking Chorus, fat and clad in song. As moonlight fading into dawn Declared anew for we remaining Here to ponder all wondrous Calm assembled stones and Gestures, ones you taught and Cast into the laughing campfire. Where sparking fireflies rise. Our Buffalo memories yet Rejoice to know, as you With us remain, not by Traitorous doubt, nor by Incurious mind, nor by some Adventure dreamed and set aside, That we shall win, not fearing to attempt.

admin