Episode 45: A Nameless Grave

   A Nameless Grave
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“A soldier of the Union mustered out,”
   Is the inscription on an unknown grave
   At Newport News, beside the salt sea wave,
   Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout
Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout
   Of battle, when the loud artillery drave
   Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave
   And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.
Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea
   In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame
   I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,
When I remember thou hast given for me
   All thou hadst, thy life, thou very name,
   And I can give you nothing in return.