From the recording DUST
(O'Hara/Lucas)
Lyrics
The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat the soldier’s last tattoo / No more on life’s parade shall meet that brave and fallen few / Nor war’s wild note nor glory’s peal shall thrill with fierce delight / Those hearts that never more may feel the rapture of the fight / Their shivered swords are red with rust, their plumed heads are bowed / Their haughty banner, trailed in dust, is now their martial shroud / And solemn funeral tears have washed the red stains from each brow / These bodies torn, by battle gashed, are free from anguish now / Rest on, sainted dead, dear as the blood you shed / On Fame’s eternal ground, silent tents are spread and glory guards, on solemn rounds, the bivouac of the dead / Beneath the earth of home you rest, far from the field / Borne to a Spartan mother’s breast on many a bloody shield / Your own proud land’s heroic soil is your hallowed grave / She claims from war his richest spoil, the ashes of her brave / Your glory shall not be forgot while fame her record keeps / For honor points the hallowed spot where valor proudly sleeps / Nor wreck nor change nor winter’s blight nor time’s remorseless doom / Shall dim one ray of glory’s light that gilds your deathless tomb / Chorus