They stand there in the old days
staring straight into our time
with their solemn grimy faces.
They rode around on horses,
suffered toothache to its bloody end.
And when they died, they just died.
(God was in His prime,
    and could take on Science with one hand.)
If we could only hear them sing!
If Edison had thought of himself sooner.
Then we would know for sure
that what happened at Antietam and Bull Run
really happened.
Before the century swung shut
on their beautiful cries.