# Armies in the Fire

- Source: A Child's Garden of Verses (child-garden.gutenberg.org), Public domain, Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885; pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1905; via Project Gutenberg
- Reading level: Grades 1 and 2
- Subjects: Poems, Nature
- Topics: armies, fire, city, marching, phantom, again
- Length: 121 words, about 1 min
- Original: <https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/25609/pg25609-images.html>
- Page: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/r/child-garden/s-55-armies-in-the-fire>
- Open in Sprouts: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/?read=child-garden/s-55-armies-in-the-fire>

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The lamps now glitter down the street;  
Faintly sound the falling feet;  
And the blue even slowly falls  
About the garden trees and walls.

Now in the falling of the gloom  
The red fire paints the empty room:  
And warmly on the roof it looks,  
And flickers on the backs of books.

Armies march by tower and spire  
Of cities blazing, in the fire;—  
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,  
The armies fade, the lustre dies.

Then once again the glow returns;  
Again the phantom city burns;  
And down the red-hot valley, lo!  
The phantom armies marching go!

Blinking embers, tell me true  
Where are those armies marching to,  
And what the burning city is  
That crumbles in your furnaces!

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## Picture credits

- Jessie Willcox Smith, Public domain (<https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/25609/pg25609-images.html>)