Civil War

‘Tis the drum that calls aloud!
In the fields I hear its call,
And I rose and quitted all,
And I turned a deafened ear
To what heart and hope held dear,
Nor a backward glance allowed-
For the Drum-
For the Drum it called so loud!

Tears have dimmed my mother’s eyes,
And my father vainly sighs;
“Father, mother cease to plead-
But one sound my ears now heed,
And I burn to join the crowd
With the Drum,
The Drum that calls so loud.”

Oh! The Drum it calls so loud!
At the heartstone- In the seat,
Where I used my love to greet!
Pale she sits and cries with woe,
“Must thou- wilt thou from me go?”
“Sweet, to thee my heart was vowed-
But the Drum,
Oh! the Drum it calls so loud.”

Oh, the Drum it calls aloud,
From my comrade in the fight
Comes to me a last good night!
And I know death’s greeting well,
Bursting from the fiery shell
While in dust my ear is bowed,
Though the Drum,
Though the Drum still calls aloud!

Oh! the drum, it calls so loud!
Earth has not a louder sound
Than the Drum on battle ground,
And its voice is Honor’s breath,
Though it calls to blood and death
And a soldiers gory shroud,
For the Drum,
Though the Drum still calls so loud!

-Anonymous, 1861