Uncoloneled + 

Though war-signs fail in time of peace, they say, + 

Two awful portents gloom the public mind: + 

All Mexico is arming for the fray, + 

And Colonel Mark McDonald has resigned! + 

We know not by what instinct he divined + 

The coming trouble⁠—maybe, like the steed + 

Described by Job, he smelled the fight afar. + 

Howe’er it be, he left, and for that deed + 

Is an aspirant to the G.A.R. + 

When cannon flame along the Rio Grande + 

A citizen’s commission will be handy. + 