Fast asleep the boys are lying, in their low and narrow tents, And no battle-cry can wake them, and no orders call them hence; And the yearnings of the mother, and the anguish of the wife, Can not with their magic presence call the soldier back to life; And the brother's manly sorrow, and the father's mournful pride, Can not give back to his country him who for his country died. They who for the trembling Nation in its hour of trial bled, Lie, in these its years of triumph, with our Army of the Dead. When the years of Earth are over, and the cares of Earth are done, When the reign of Time is ended, and Eternity begun, When the thunders of Omniscience on our wakened senses roll, And the sky above shall wither, and be gathered like a scroll; When, among the lofty mountains, and across the mighty sea, The sublime celestial bugler shall ring out the reveille, Then shall march with brightest laurels, and with proud, victorious tread, To their station up in heaven, our Grand Army of the Dead! APPLE-BLOSSOMS. Underneath an apple-tree Sat a maiden and her lover; And the thoughts within her he Yearned, in silence, to discover. Round them danced the sunbeams bright, Green the grass-lawn stretched before them; While the apple-blossoms white Hung in rich profusion o'er them. Naught within her eyes he read That would tell her mind unto him; Though their light, he after said, Quivered swiftly through and through him; Till at last his heart burst free From the prayer with which 'twas laden, And he said, "When wilt thou be Mine for evermore, fair maiden?" "When," said she, "the breeze of May With white flakes our heads shall cover, I will be thy brideling gay-- Thou shall be my husband-lover." "How," said he, in sorrow bowed, "Can I hope such hopeful weather? Breeze of May and Winter's cloud Do not often fly together." Quickly as the words he said, From the west a wind came sighing, And on each uncovered head Sent the apple-blossoms flying; "'Flakes of white!' thou'rt mine," said he, "Sooner than thy wish or knowing!" "Nay, I heard the breeze," quoth she, "When in yonder forest blowing." APPLES GROWING. Underneath an apple-tree Sat a dame of comely seeming, With her work upon her knee, And her great eyes idly dreaming. O'er the harvest-acres bright, Came her husband's din of reaping; Near to her, an infant wight Through the tangled grass was creeping. On the branches long and high, And the great green apples growing, Rested she her wandering eye, With a retrospective knowing. "This," she said, "the shelter is, Where, when gay and raven-headed, I consented to be his, And our willing hearts were wedded. "Laughing words and peals of mirth, Long are changed to grave endeavor; Sorrow's winds have swept to earth Many a blossomed hope forever. Thunder-heads have hovered o'er-- Storms my path have chilled and shaded; Of the bloom my gay youth bore, Some has fruited--more has faded."