Robert Louis Stevenson

Songs of Travel and Other Verses. 21. THE morning drum-call on my eager ear

THE morning drum-call on my eager ear
Thrills unforgotten yet; the morning dew
Lies yet undried along my field of noon.

But now I pause at whiles in what I do,
And count the bell, and tremble lest I hear
(My work untrimmed) the sunset gun too soon.