The battle rain 
 Conf Pam #814 
 
From th€ SonUhern Literary Messengen^fav Junt 1862. 
 
 CC 
 
 THE EATTLE HAWfBOW.* 
 
 n • V, BY JOHN B. THOMPSON. 
 
 The warm weary day was departing — tlie smile 
 Of the sunset gave token the tempest had ceased, 
 
 And the li^htnin'r yet fitfully gleamed for awhile 
 On the cloud that sank sullen and dark in the east. 
 
 There our army, awaiting the terrible fight 
 
 Of the morrow, lay hopeful ami watchful and still ; 
 
 Where their tents all the region had sprinkled with white 
 From river to river, o'er meadow and hill. 
 
 While above them the fierce cannonade of the sky 
 
 Blazed and burst from the vapours that mnffletl the sun, 
 
 Tlieir "counterfeit clamours"' gave forth no reply ; 
 And slept, till the battle, the charge in each gun. 
 
 Whenlo! on the cloud, a miracuVous thing! 
 
 Broke in beauty tile ramljow our host to enfold; 
 The centre o'erspread by its arcii, and each wing 
 
 Sufiused with its azure and crimson and gold. 
 
 Blest omen of victory, symbol divine 
 
 Of peace after tumtilt. repose after pain, 
 How sweet, and how glowing with promise the sign 
 
 To eyes that should never behold it again ! 
 
 For the fierce flame of war on the morrow flashed out, 
 And its thunder peals filled all the tremulous air: 
 
 Over slippery entrenchment and reddened redoubt 
 R/ng the wild cheer of triumph, the cry of despair. 
 
 Then a long week cir glorV and agotiy came— ' 
 Of mute supplication and year'ning and dread : 
 
 When day unto day gave the record of fame, 
 And night unto night gave the list of its dead. 
 
 We had triumphed — the foe had fled back to his ships — ■ 
 His standards in rags and his legions a wreck — 
 
 But alas ! the stark faces and colourless lips 
 
 Of our loved ones gave triumph's rejoicings a check. 
 
 Not yet, oh not yet, as a sign of release, 
 
 Had the Lord set in mercy his bow in the cloud. 
 
 Not yet had the Comforter whispered of peace 
 
 To the hearts that around us lay bleeding and bowed. 
 
 But the promise was given — the beautiful arc, 
 
 With its brilliant confusion of colours, that spanned 
 
 The sky on that exquisite eve, was the mark 
 Of the Infinite Love overarching the land: 
 
 And that Love, shining richly and full as the day, 
 
 Though the tear-drops that moisten each martyr's proud pall. 
 
 On the glooin of the past the bright bow shall display 
 Of Freedom, Peace, Victory bent over all, 
 
 Richmond, 20 Jolt, 1862. 
 
 • On the evening which preceded the commencement of the recent battles before Ijf q 
 Richmond, a magnificent rainbow, following after a grand thunder storm, overspread the g((C' 
 eastern sky, exactly defining the position of the Confederate Army, as seen from the 
 Capital. 
 
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