The Veteran

Anonymous translation

I LOVE the old heroic times

  Of Charles the Twelfth, our country’s glory,

And deem them fittest for the scenes

  Of stern or tender story;

For he was blithe as Peace may be,

Yet boisterous as Victory.

Even now, on high, there glide,

Up and down, at eventide,

Mighty men, like those of old,

With frocks of blue and belts of gold.

O, reverently I gaze upon

  Those soldier spirits clad in light,

And hold as things most wonderful

  Their coats of buff and swords of giant height.

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