An Elegy

From The Civil War in Song and Story 1860-1865, collected and arranged by Frank Moore, page 69

An Elegy - The following lines were written by a soldier in the hospital at New Haven, Conn., who lost his leg in the battle of Fair Oaks:


Good leg, thou wast a faithful friend,
And truly hast thy duty done;
I thank thee most that to the end,
Thou didst not let this body run.


Strange paradox that in the fight
Where I of thee was thus bereft,
I lost my left leg for "the Right,"
And yet the right's the one that's left!


But while the sturdy stump remains,
I may be able yet to patch it,
For even now I've taken pains
To make an L-E-G to match it.