Heart of New England

Chapter 63: CRIPPLED SOLDIER

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About This Book

A lyric collection that moves through New England’s seasons, landscapes, and local history, blending pastoral description with folklore, legend, and occasional patriotic and religious reflections. Poems evoke shorelines, orchards, pine woods, and village life while honoring Pilgrim ancestry and the fortitude of pioneer women; other pieces imagine fairies, haunted houses, pirate lore, and convent gardens. Varied forms include children’s verses, contemplative nature lyrics, and occasional odes, united by a regionally rooted voice that balances celebration of place with quiet moral and communal meditation.

CRIPPLED SOLDIER

I may have used but half my strength,
And you but half your mind,
To help the Cause for which he bled,
Leaving a limb behind.

You may have stumbled in your task,
I may have limped and failed.
But he leaped forth to give his hope,
Nor once looked back, nor quailed.

We may be scarred with vain regret
For duties left undone,
With stiffened limbs and slackened hearts,
When the great war is won.

Then who will say that he is lame,
While we are safe and whole?
Who bears dread wounds for others’ sake
Has the uncrippled soul.

And life for him may now begin,
With a new hope at heart,
While we, disfigured, face a peace
In which we won no part.