LESSON 55

SOMEBODY'S DARLING

谁的亲人沉睡在这里

1．Into a ward of the whitewashed halls,

Where the dead and dying lay,

Wounded by bayonets⁽¹⁾, shells, and balls,

Somebody's darling⁽²⁾ was borne one day;

2．Somebody's darling, so young and brave,

Wearing yet on his pale, sweet face,

Soon to be hid by the dust of the grave,

The lingering⁽³⁾ light of his boyhood's grace.

3．Matted⁽⁴⁾ and damp are the curls of gold,

Kissing the snow of that fair young brow;

Pale are the lips of delicate⁽⁵⁾ mold⁽⁶⁾—

Somebody's darling is dying now.

4．Back from his beautiful, blue-veined brow,

Brush all the wandering⁽⁷⁾ waves of gold;

Cross his hands on his bosom now;

Somebody's darling is still and cold.

5．Kiss him once for somebody's sake,

Murmur a prayer soft and low;

One bright curl from its fair mates take;

They were somebody's pride, you know;

6．Somebody's hand has rested there;

Was it a mother's, soft and white?

And have the lips of a sister fair

Been baptized in the waves of light?

7．God knows best! he was somebody's love:

Somebody's heart enshrined⁽⁸⁾ him there;

Somebody wafted⁽⁹⁾ his name above,

Night and morn, on the wings of prayer.

8．Somebody wept when he marched away,

Looking so handsome, brave, and grand;

Somebody's kiss on his forehead lay;

Somebody clung to his parting hand.

9．Somebody's watching and waiting for him,

Yearning⁽¹⁰⁾ to hold him again to her heart;

And there he lies, with his blue eyes dim,

And the smiling, childlike lips apart.

10．Tenderly⁽¹¹⁾ bury the fair young dead,

Pausing to drop on his grave a tear;

Carve on the wooden slab at his head,

"Somebody's darling slumbers here."