The legions who have bled
Had elsewise died in vain for our release.
Had elsewise died in vain for our release.
Matthews - Poems of American Patriotism
" And Joseph had a pair of fightin' eyes;
And his granddad was a Johnny, as perhaps you might surmise;
Then "Robert Bruce MacPherson! " And the Yankee squad was done
With "Isaac Abie Cohen! " once a lightweight champion.
Then O'Leary paced 'em forward and, says he: "You Yanks, fall in! "
And he marched 'em to the captain. "Let the skirmishin' begin. "
Says he, "The Yanks are comin', and you beat 'em if you can! "
And saluted like a soldier and first-class fightin' man!
ANY WOMAN TO A SOLDIER
GRACE ELLERY CHANNING
[Sidenote: 1917, 1918]
The day you march away--let the sun shine,
Let everything be blue and gold and fair,
Triumph of trumpets calling through bright air,
Flags slanting, flowers flaunting--not a sign
That the unbearable is now to bear,
The day you march away.
The day you march away--this I have sworn,
No matter what comes after, that shall be
Hid secretly between my soul and me
As women hide the unborn--
You shall see brows like banners, lips that frame
Smiles, for the pride those lips have in your name.
You shall see soldiers in my eyes that day--
That day, O soldier, when you march away.
The day you march away--cannot I guess?
There will be ranks and ranks, all leading on
To one white face, and then--the white face gone,
And nothing left but a gray emptiness--
Blurred moving masses, faceless, featureless--
The day you march away.
TO PEACE, WITH VICTORY
CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON
[Sidenote: November 11, 1918]
I could not welcome you, oh! longed-for peace,
Unless your coming had been heralded
By victory.
The legions who have bled
Had elsewise died in vain for our release.
But now that you come sternly, let me kneel
And pay my tribute to the myriad dead,
Who counted not the blood that they have shed
Against the goal their valor shall reveal.
Ah! what had been the shame, had all the stars
And stripes of our brave flag drooped still unfurled,
When the fair freedom of the weary world
Hung in the balance. Welcome then the scars!
Welcome the sacrifice! With lifted head
Our nation greets dear Peace as honor's right;
And ye the Brave, the Fallen in the fight,
Had ye not perished, then were honor dead!
You cannot march away! However far,
Farther and faster still I shall have fled
Before you; and that moment when you land,
Voiceless, invisible, close at your hand
My heart shall smile, hearing the steady tread
Of your faith-keeping feet.
First at the trenches I shall be to greet;
There's not a watch I shall not share with you;
But more--but most--there where for you the red,
Drenched, dreadful, splendid, sacrificial field lifts up
Inflexible demand,
I will be there!
My hands shall hold the cup.
My hands beneath your head
Shall bear you--not the stretcher bearer's--through
All anguish of the dying and the dead;
With all your wounds I shall have ached and bled,
Waked, thirsted, starved, been fevered, gasped for breath,
Felt the death dew;
And you shall live, because my heart has said
To Death
That Death itself shall have no part in you!
YOU AND YOU
EDITH WHARTON
November, 1918
TO THE AMERICAN PRIVATE IN THE GREAT WAR
Every one of you won the war--
You and you and you--
Each one knowing what it was for,
And what was his job to do.
Every one of you won the war,
Obedient, unwearied, unknown,
Dung in the trenches, drift on the shore,
Dust to the world's end blown;
Every one of you, steady and true,
You and you and you--
Down in the pit or up in the blue,
Whether you crawled or sailed or flew,
Whether your closest comrade knew
Or you bore the brunt alone--
All of you, all of you, name after name,
Jones and Robinson, Smith and Brown,
You from the piping prairie town,
You from the Fundy fogs that came,
You from the city's roaring blocks,
You from the bleak New England rocks
With the shingled roof in the apple boughs,
You from the brown adobe house--
You from the Rockies, you from the Coast,
You from the burning frontier-post
And you from the Klondyke's frozen flanks,
You from the cedar-swamps, you from the pine,
You from the cotton and you from the vine,
You from the rice and the sugar-brakes,
You from the Rivers and you from the Lakes,
You from the Creeks and you from the Licks
And you from the brown bayou--
You and you and you--
You from the pulpit, you from the mine,
You from the factories, you from the banks,
Closer and closer, ranks on ranks,
Airplanes and cannon, and rifles and tanks,
Smith and Robinson, Brown and Jones,
Ruddy faces or bleaching bones,
After the turmoil and blood and pain
Swinging home to the folks again
Or sleeping alone in the fine French rain--
Every one of you won the war.
Every one of you won the war--
You and you and you--
Pressing and pouring forth, more and more,
Toiling and straining from shore to shore
To reach the flaming edge of the dark
Where man in his millions went up like a spark,
You, in your thousands and millions coming,
All the sea ploughed with you, all the air humming,
All the land loud with you,
All our hearts proud with you,
All our souls bowed with the awe of your coming!
Where's the Arch high enough,
Lads, to receive you,
Where's the eye dry enough,
Dears, to perceive you,
When at last and at last in your glory you come,
Tramping home?
And his granddad was a Johnny, as perhaps you might surmise;
Then "Robert Bruce MacPherson! " And the Yankee squad was done
With "Isaac Abie Cohen! " once a lightweight champion.
Then O'Leary paced 'em forward and, says he: "You Yanks, fall in! "
And he marched 'em to the captain. "Let the skirmishin' begin. "
Says he, "The Yanks are comin', and you beat 'em if you can! "
And saluted like a soldier and first-class fightin' man!
ANY WOMAN TO A SOLDIER
GRACE ELLERY CHANNING
[Sidenote: 1917, 1918]
The day you march away--let the sun shine,
Let everything be blue and gold and fair,
Triumph of trumpets calling through bright air,
Flags slanting, flowers flaunting--not a sign
That the unbearable is now to bear,
The day you march away.
The day you march away--this I have sworn,
No matter what comes after, that shall be
Hid secretly between my soul and me
As women hide the unborn--
You shall see brows like banners, lips that frame
Smiles, for the pride those lips have in your name.
You shall see soldiers in my eyes that day--
That day, O soldier, when you march away.
The day you march away--cannot I guess?
There will be ranks and ranks, all leading on
To one white face, and then--the white face gone,
And nothing left but a gray emptiness--
Blurred moving masses, faceless, featureless--
The day you march away.
TO PEACE, WITH VICTORY
CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON
[Sidenote: November 11, 1918]
I could not welcome you, oh! longed-for peace,
Unless your coming had been heralded
By victory.
The legions who have bled
Had elsewise died in vain for our release.
But now that you come sternly, let me kneel
And pay my tribute to the myriad dead,
Who counted not the blood that they have shed
Against the goal their valor shall reveal.
Ah! what had been the shame, had all the stars
And stripes of our brave flag drooped still unfurled,
When the fair freedom of the weary world
Hung in the balance. Welcome then the scars!
Welcome the sacrifice! With lifted head
Our nation greets dear Peace as honor's right;
And ye the Brave, the Fallen in the fight,
Had ye not perished, then were honor dead!
You cannot march away! However far,
Farther and faster still I shall have fled
Before you; and that moment when you land,
Voiceless, invisible, close at your hand
My heart shall smile, hearing the steady tread
Of your faith-keeping feet.
First at the trenches I shall be to greet;
There's not a watch I shall not share with you;
But more--but most--there where for you the red,
Drenched, dreadful, splendid, sacrificial field lifts up
Inflexible demand,
I will be there!
My hands shall hold the cup.
My hands beneath your head
Shall bear you--not the stretcher bearer's--through
All anguish of the dying and the dead;
With all your wounds I shall have ached and bled,
Waked, thirsted, starved, been fevered, gasped for breath,
Felt the death dew;
And you shall live, because my heart has said
To Death
That Death itself shall have no part in you!
YOU AND YOU
EDITH WHARTON
November, 1918
TO THE AMERICAN PRIVATE IN THE GREAT WAR
Every one of you won the war--
You and you and you--
Each one knowing what it was for,
And what was his job to do.
Every one of you won the war,
Obedient, unwearied, unknown,
Dung in the trenches, drift on the shore,
Dust to the world's end blown;
Every one of you, steady and true,
You and you and you--
Down in the pit or up in the blue,
Whether you crawled or sailed or flew,
Whether your closest comrade knew
Or you bore the brunt alone--
All of you, all of you, name after name,
Jones and Robinson, Smith and Brown,
You from the piping prairie town,
You from the Fundy fogs that came,
You from the city's roaring blocks,
You from the bleak New England rocks
With the shingled roof in the apple boughs,
You from the brown adobe house--
You from the Rockies, you from the Coast,
You from the burning frontier-post
And you from the Klondyke's frozen flanks,
You from the cedar-swamps, you from the pine,
You from the cotton and you from the vine,
You from the rice and the sugar-brakes,
You from the Rivers and you from the Lakes,
You from the Creeks and you from the Licks
And you from the brown bayou--
You and you and you--
You from the pulpit, you from the mine,
You from the factories, you from the banks,
Closer and closer, ranks on ranks,
Airplanes and cannon, and rifles and tanks,
Smith and Robinson, Brown and Jones,
Ruddy faces or bleaching bones,
After the turmoil and blood and pain
Swinging home to the folks again
Or sleeping alone in the fine French rain--
Every one of you won the war.
Every one of you won the war--
You and you and you--
Pressing and pouring forth, more and more,
Toiling and straining from shore to shore
To reach the flaming edge of the dark
Where man in his millions went up like a spark,
You, in your thousands and millions coming,
All the sea ploughed with you, all the air humming,
All the land loud with you,
All our hearts proud with you,
All our souls bowed with the awe of your coming!
Where's the Arch high enough,
Lads, to receive you,
Where's the eye dry enough,
Dears, to perceive you,
When at last and at last in your glory you come,
Tramping home?
