Shame and sorrow

Visages in the dying light of a long forgotten day
Bring sweet memories unbidden to my mind
A faded worn out photograph has become my cross to bear
A coward I left everything behind

There was a fire that year, my brother lost his leg in the war
For the Union he gave everything, but at Shiloh they took even more

I turn and walk away in shame and sorrow
But the demon's grip pulls me back again

The bright refrain of a battle hymn was the anthem on our lips
The day we left home, spring 1862
For a sunken road called The Hornets' Nest, in the face of the cannons' fire
At Pearson's words, "By God we'll see it through"

And at the fight in the grove, the blossoms they covered our dead
When Johnston of the Rebels fell even the Bluecoats lowered their heads

And when I wake in the night I cry to myself, "What have I done?"
For the loved ones I've forsaken now I'm doomed to this wretched existence alone