I did not sleep twas noon of day

I did not sleep twas noon of day

I watched the burning sunshine fall..

The long grass bending where I lay

The blue sky brooding over all

I heard the mellow hum of bees

And singing birds and sighing trees

And far away in woody dell

The music of the Sabbath bell

I did not dream remembrance still

Clasped round my heart its fetters chill

But I am sure the soul is free

To leave its clay a little while

Or how in exile misery

Could I have seen my county smile

In ancient fields my limbs were laid

With ancient turf beneath my head

My spirit wandered o'er that shore

Where nought but it may wander more

Yet if the soul can thus return

I need not and I will not mourn.

The mortal flesh you might debar

But not the eternal fire within.

A heart that can forget him never

Thought shut within a sighing tomb

His name shall be for whom I bear

This long sustained and hopeless doom

And brighter in the hour of woe

Than in the blaze of victory's pride

That glory shedding star shall glow

For which we fought and bled and died.