Classic Poem

" I KNEW him well, " the old man said;
" We were together in fight:
I with the Left when the charge was led;
The General of course had the Right.

" I stood by his side, " the old man said,
" When a bullet whizzed down the line
Scarce forty feet from the General's head —
And but little farther from mine.

" Did I blench at the storm? " the old man said,
" Ah, sir, the bravest may;
And from childhood up I 've been always afraid
Of finding myself in the way. "

" Shall I write thee down, O Hero, " I said
" As a friend of the fallen chief,
And blazon thy name beside that of the dead
In a glorious alto-relief? "

" Nay, his friends were many, " the old man said,
" A greater distinction I want, —
Just say I 'm the one who when all was done
Wrote no " Recollections of Grant!" "