1. If chessmen could but speak and fight,
Steel clanging loud in duel bright,

2. The pawns would flee their servitude,
Our war a scene of wrath and blood.

3. But I see only silent forms of wood
That make no murmur when they should;

4. No red Republican chargers neigh,
No shadows of the grave are they.

5. If we but fought like this in fact,
Eternal would the mountains stand intact.