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Arthur GuitermanHis iron arm had spent its force, No longer might he rein a horse; Lone, beside the dying blaze Dreaming dreams of younger days Sat old Israel Putnam.
Twice he heard, then three times more A knock upon the oaken door, A knock he could not fail to know, That old man in the ember-glow. "Come," said General Putnam.
The door swung wide; in cloak and hood Lean and tall the pilgrim stood And spoke in tones none else might hear "Once more I come to bring you Fear!" "Fear?" said General Putnam.
"You know not Fear? And yet this face Your eyes have seen in many a place Since first in stony Pomfret, when You dragged the mad wolf from her den." "Yes," said General Putnam.
"Was I not close, when, stripped and bound With blazing fagots heaped around You heard the Huron war cry shrill? Was I not close at Bunker Hill?" "Close," said General Putnam.
"Am I not that which strong men dread On stricken field or fevered bed On gloomy trail and stormy sea, And dare you name my name to me? "Death," said General Putnam.
"We have been comrades, you and I, In chase and war beneath the sky; And now, whatever Fate may send, Old comrade, can you call me friend?" "Friend!" said General Putnam.
Then up he rose, and forth they went Away from battleground, fortress, tent, Mountain, wilderness, field and farm, Death and the General, arm-in-arm, Death and General Putnam.
-Arthur Guiterman (Death and General Putnam) Arthur Guiterman. 1871 - 1943. American poet and light versifier born in Vienna of American parents. Initiated Rhymed Reviews in Life magazine. Adopted Molière's L'Ecole des maris in English rhymed verse, successfully produced by the Theatre Guild (1933). Wrote libretto and lyrics for The Man Without a Country by Walter Damrosch, produced by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York (1937)
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