Reveille
1885-1977
What sudden bugle calls us in the night
And wakes us from a dream that we had shaped;
Flinging us sharply up against a fight
We thought we had escaped.
It is no easy waking, and we win
No final peace; our victories are few.
But still imperative forces pull us in
And sweep us somehow through.
Summoned by a supreme and confident power
That wakes our sleeping courage like a blow,
We rise, half-shaken, to the challenging hour,
And answer it -- and go.
DayPoems Poem No. 1344
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1344.html">Reveille by Louis Untermeyer</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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