The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry - 64. Two Civil War Poems

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The Same Canteen

There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours,

Fetters of friendship and ties of flowers,

And true lover's knots, I ween;

The girl and the boy are bound by a kiss,

But there's never a bond, old friend, like this,

We have drank from the same Canteen!

It was sometimes water, and sometimes milk,

And sometimes apple-jack "fine as silk;"

But whatever the tipple has been

We shared it together in bane or bliss,

And I warm to you, friend, when I think of this,

We drank from the same Canteen!

The rich and great sit down to dine,

They quaff to each other in sparkling wine,

From glasses of crystal and green;

But I guess in their golden potations they miss

The warmth of regard to be found in this,

We drank from the same Canteen!

We have shared our blankets and tents together,

And have marched and fought in all kinds of weather,

And hungry and full we have been;

Had days of battle and days of rest,

But this memory I cling to and love the best,

We drank from the same Canteen!

For when wounded I lay on the center slope,

With my blood flowing fast and so little hope

Upon which my faint spirit could lean;

Oh! then I remember you crawled to my side,

And bleeding so fast it seemed both must have died,

We drank from the same Canteen!

—Charles Graham Halpine,[1]

1862

If we knew

If we knew when friends around us

Closely press to say goodbye

Which among the lips that kiss us

First would 'neath the daisies lie

We would clasp our arms around them

Looking on them through our tears

Tender words of loving kindness

We would whisper in their ears.

—Unknown