Hidden History.

I.     There was a maiden in a land     Was buried with all honor fine,     For they said she had dared her pulsing life     To save a silent, holy shrine.     The cannon rode by the church's door,     The men's wild faces flashed in the sun;     The woman had guarded with rifle poised,     While the cassocked priests had run.     Ah, no! To save her pulsing life     The woman like a reindeer turned,     While hostile armies rolled by her in clouds,     And miles of sun and metal burned.     But who should know? For she was dead     Before the leathern curtain's wall,     When came her wide-eyed comrades, and found     Her body and her weapon, all.     II.     There was a woman left to die     Who never told her sacrifice,     But trusted for her crown to God,     As to its value and device.     No land was prouder for her heart,     No word has echoed long her deed,     And where she has lain, the angel flower     Looks like a common weed.