Poems (Schiller)/This war

THIS WAR
Oh, would this war was over,
This long, this bloody strife
Which has very cruelly ended
Many a brave warrior's life!

A sister has lost a brother,
And now she may but mourn
For the youth so young and noble
Who will nevermore return.

A wife is made a widow,
And now she long may weep
For her brave and manly husband
Who in southern soil doth sleep.

A child has lost its father,
And often through the day
In its innocence it wonders
Why "Pa don't come to see his May."

A rebel ball has pierced his heart
That heart that was so true.
(Unfinished.)
Composed at Irving Female College, April, 1864.