A Nameless Grave

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    "A soldier of the Union mustered out,"
        Is the inscription on an unknown grave
        At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,
        Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout
    Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout
        Of battle, when the loud artillery drave
        Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave
        And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.
    Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea
        In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame
        I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,
    When I remember thou hast given for me
        All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name,
        And I can give thee nothing in return.