征役已毕行路休,
鼓角无声原野寂。
乱定川原归静好,
苍穹漫覆旧疮痍。
昔年国破日色晦,
兄弟相戕万骨哀。
帝遣明光穿暗雾,
吾辈稽首望春来。
帝遣明光照四方,
八荒驰道走和风。
幡幢不倦飞广翼,
直下心头化笑容。
笑不可度泪可量,
父老当时血满腔。
换得升平珠玉价,
魂消锋镝骨成霜。
霜飞战场死士奔,
刀头赤血月色惨。
英雄尽瘁金鼓裂,
炮火穿胸天不言。
原野寂寂战鼓歇,
乱后骄阳驱迷雾。
但酹江月酬烈士,
碧血丹心终不负。
正道永存出赤浪,
骨尘灰里起祥光。
祥光迸作花千树,
吹遍人间肺腑香。
肺腑香生慈与惠,
无争心海种芝兰。
大爱如潮吞九泽,
春满乾坤性命宽。
宽兮乐兮歌未央,
旌旗映日随风扬。
月桂枝头荐英魂,
虎胆龙威万古长!
--保罗·劳伦斯·邓巴
Done are the toils and the wearisome marches,
Done is the summons of bugle and drum.
Softly and sweetly the sky overarches,
Shelt’ring a land where Rebellion is dumb.
Dark were the days of the country’s derangement,
Sad were the hours when the conflict was on,
But through the gloom of fraternal estrangement
God sent his light, and we welcome the dawn.
O’er the expanse of our mighty dominions,
Sweeping away to the uttermost parts,
Peace, the wide-flying, on untiring pinions,
Bringeth her message of joy to our hearts.
Ah, but this joy which our minds cannot measure,
What did it cost for our fathers to gain!
Bought at the price of the heart’s dearest treasure,
Born out of travail and sorrow and pain;
Born in the battle where fleet Death was flying,
Slaying with sabre-stroke bloody and fell;
Born where the heroes and martyrs were dying,
Torn by the fury of bullet and shell.
Ah, but the day is past; silent the rattle,
And the confusion that followed the fight.
Peace to the heroes who died in the battle,
Martyrs to truth and the crowning of Right!
Out of the blood of a conflict fraternal,
Out of the dust and dimness of death,
Burst into blossoms of glory eternal
Flowers that sweeten the world with the breath.
Flowers of charity, peace, and devotion
Bloom in the hearts that are empty of strife;
Love that is boundless and broad as the ocean
Leaps into beauty and fullness of life.
So, with the singing of paeans and chorals,
And with the flag flashing high in the sun,
Place on the graves of our heroes the laurels
Which their unfaltering valor has won!
--Paul Laurence Dunbar