The+American+Soldier

//By [|Philip Freneau]//
A Picture from the Life To serve with love, And shed your blood, Approved may be above, But here below (Example shew,) ‘Tis dangerous to be good. --Lord Oxford

Deep in a vale, a stranger now to arms, Too poor to shine in courts, too proud to beg, He, who once warred on //Saratoga’s// plains, Sits musing o’er his scars, and wooden leg.

Remembering still the toil of former days, To other hands he sees his earnings paid;-- //They// share the due reward—//he// feeds on praise. Lost in the abyss of want, misfortune’s shade.

Far, far from domes where splendid tapers glare, ‘Tis his from dear bought //peace// no wealth to win, Removed alike from courtly cringing ‘squires, The great-man’s //Levee//, and the proud man’s grin.

Sold are those arms which once on Britons blazed, When, flushed with conquest, to the charge they came; That power repelled, and //Freedom’s// fabrick raised, She leaves her soldier—//famine and a name!//