• “all quiet along the Potomac,” they say,
      “Except now and then a stray picket
    Is shot, as he walks on his beat to and fro,
      By a rifleman hid in the thicket.
    ’T is nothing—a private or two now and then
      Will not count in the news of the battle;
    Not an officer lost—only one of the men,
      Moaning out, all alone, the death-rattle.”

    ...
  • “all quiet along the Potomac,” they say,
      “Except now and then a stray picket
    Is shot, as he walks on his beat, to and fro,
      By a rifleman hid in the thicket.
    ’T is nothing: a private or two, now and then,
      Will not count in the news of the battle;
    Not an officer lost,—only one of the men,
      Moaning out, all alone, the death-rattle.”...

  • It stole along so stealthy

    Suspicion it was done

    Was dim as to the wealthy

    Beginning not to own —

  • This slow Day moved along —

    I heard its axles go

    As if they could not hoist themselves

    They hated motion so —


    I told my soul to come —

    It was no use to wait —

    We went and played and came again

    And it was out of sight —