Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks

The Old Soldier’s Story

by James Whitcomb Riley

37 of 107 · Contents · Download EPUB

An Assassin

Cat-like he creeps along where ways are dim,
  From covert unto covert’s secrecy;
His shadow in the moonlight shrinks from him
  And crouches warily.

He hugs strange envies to his breast, and nurses
  Wild hatreds, till the murderous hand he grips
Falls, quivering with the tension of the curses
  He launches from his lips.

Drenched in his victim’s blood he holds high revel;
  He mocks at justice, and in all men’s eyes
Insults his God—and no one but the devil
  Is sorry when he dies.

← Back to The Old Soldier’s Story

Scroll to Top