SILENTLY the clouds of gray

Ere the dawning lighter grew,

And the night shrouds rolled away;

Others came of brighter hue,

Creamy flecks, as crystal spray

Fading in a sea of blue.

Minden slept in deep repose,

But in yonder village white,

Where the vague horizon grows

Fainter on the verge of night,

Lay encamped two mortal foes,

Eager for the morrow's fight.

The noisy river swept along,

Fair meadows stretched for miles around,

The early swallow's matin-song

Was ended, - now no other sound.

Then Minden all at once awoke,

And lo! above each crowded shore

Was seen an angry cloud of smoke,

Each echoed back an angry roar.

Silently the clouds of gray

At the dawning brighter grew;

While the night drifts rolled away,

Deeper grew the heaven's blue;

But the carnage of the fray

Dyed the field a crimson hue.

Minden slept, a troubled sleep,

And the river foamed along,

Tinged with scarlet rich and deep,

And no bird its early song

Carolled o'er the fields now red

With the dying and the slain,

But gaunt vultures with the dead

Held carousal through the plain.

M. T. E.