[?? Rest of COLB]
RISE, Comrades! lift the gleaming glass,
Gay laughter now is fled,
In solemn silence we will drink
"The memory of our Dead!"
And first we pledge the hero's name
Who in the Death Charge led.
This day the present from us glides,
The glorious past draws near;
Our own proud joy of triumph blends- '
With sorrow's starting tear,
And high upon our roll of hale,
Let "Cardigan" appear.
We think upon his burning wish
On the Crimean strand -
That we might ho the first to meet
The hostile Russian's band!
And first we were, with keen drawn swords,
In foeman's front to stand!
And still he chafed to lead us on,
Until the fated day,
When down that Northern Vale we rode,
Fought Death, and tore away!
And show'd the world what soldiers mean
By that short word - "Obey!"
'Twas priceless, in that hour supreme,
That we our Leader knew;
We knew the love of flashing steel
Glanced in his eyes so blue,
And though his word was strict and stern,
His heart was strong and true.
We honour'd him, as soldiers love
A firm and dauntless man;
We knew he prized our valour well,
As but a brave man can:
And freely gave we in return,
Our trust to Cardigan.
He rode in front of all our line,
First horse and foremost blade;
And generous hearts lay lighter stress
When a brave man's faults are weighed;
These words from his immortal wreath -
"He led the Light Brigade!"
[PB: check punctuation etc. NB alternate lines are slightly indented.]
It has been asserted by some who have written descriptions of the "Charge of the Light Brigade," that Lord Cardigan was not in the Charge. Sergeant-Major Nunnerley, however, positively asserts that he saw his Lordship in front of the left squadron of the 17th Lancers, who were with the 13th Light Dragoons, in the front line; and, after the Charge, he again
[22]
saw his Lordship, as he was giving orders to the remnant of the "Six Hundred " to form, near the spot whence they started for the Charge.
[PB: The other poem appears to have the same structure etc....Noice e.g. "RISE, Comrades" above, and "Hail comrades" of the other - is it a continuation?] [PB: Are they by Nunnerley himself?]
[Source: Nunnerley, James lkin (Corporal), Short Sketch Of The 17th Lancers And Life Of Sergeant-Major J. I. Nunnerley, privately printed, Liverpool, 1884.]