COME, LET US DIE LIKE MEN
Roll out the banner on the air,
And draw your swords of flame,
The gathering squadrons fast prepare
To take the field of fame!
In serried ranks, your columns dun
Close up along the glen;
If we must die ere set of sun,
Come, let us die like men.
We seek the foe from night till morn,
A foe we do not see,
Go, roll the drum and wind the horn,
And tell him here are we.
In idle strength we wait the prey
That lurks by marsh and fen;
But should he strike our lines to-day,
Come, let us die like men.
’Tis not to right a kinsman’s wrongs,
With bristling arms we come,
Our sisters sing their household songs
Far in a peaceful home.
We battle for a stranger’s hall,
The savage in his den,
If in such struggle we must fall,
Come, let us die like men.
Remember, boys, that Mercy’s dower
Is life to him who yields,
Remember that the hand of power
Is strongest when it shields:
Keep honor, like your sabers, bright,
Shame coward fear – and then
If we must perish in the fight --
Oh, we will die like men!
Roll out the banner on the air,
And draw your swords of flame,
The gathering squadrons fast prepare
To take the field of fame!
In serried ranks, your columns dun
Close up along the glen;
If we must die ere set of sun,
Come, let us die like men.
We seek the foe from night till morn,
A foe we do not see,
Go, roll the drum and wind the horn,
And tell him here are we.
In idle strength we wait the prey
That lurks by marsh and fen;
But should he strike our lines to-day,
Come, let us die like men.
’Tis not to right a kinsman’s wrongs,
With bristling arms we come,
Our sisters sing their household songs
Far in a peaceful home.
We battle for a stranger’s hall,
The savage in his den,
If in such struggle we must fall,
Come, let us die like men.
Remember, boys, that Mercy’s dower
Is life to him who yields,
Remember that the hand of power
Is strongest when it shields:
Keep honor, like your sabers, bright,
Shame coward fear – and then
If we must perish in the fight --
Oh, we will die like men!