I saw the day, the return of the Heroes;
(Yet the Heroes never surpass’d, shall never return;
Them, that day, I saw not.)
  
I saw the interminable Corps -- I saw the processions of armies,
I saw them approaching, defiling by, with divisions,
Streaming northward, their work done,
  camping awhile in clusters of mighty camps.
  
No holiday soldiers! -- youthful, yet veterans;
Worn, swart, handsome, strong, of the stock of homestead and workshop,
Harden’d of many a long campaign and sweaty march,
Inured on many a hard-fought, bloody field.