The Too-Late Born by Archibald MacLeish
We too, we too, descending once again The hills of our own land, we too have heard Far off --- Ah, que ce cor a longue haleine --- The horn of Roland in the passages of Spain, The first, the second blast, the failing third, And with the third turned back and climbed once more The steep road southward, and heard faint the sound Of swords, of horses, the disastrous war, And crossed the dark defile at last, and found At Roncevaux upon the darkening plain The dead against the dead and on the silent ground The silent slain---
|