"Van Winkle
Schuyler
Stuyvesant!
Matthews - Poems of American Patriotism
Young and eager and unafraid,
As neophytes they kneeled
And watched their arms, and only prayed
"Keep stain from every shield. "
Naught else they fear as they hunt the foes
Through fog, and storm, and mine,
Keen for the joy of the battle blows;
But God make strong the hearts of those
Who love, and are left behind.
YANKS
JAMES W. FOLEY
[Sidenote: 1917-1918]
O'Leary, from Chicago, and a first-class fightin' man,
For his father was from Kerry, where the gentle art began:
Sergeant Dennis P. O'Leary, from somewhere on Archie Road,
Dodgin' shells and smellin' powder while the battle ebbed and
flowed.
And the captain says: "O'Leary, from your fightin' company
Pick a dozen fightin' Yankees and come skirmishin' with me;
Pick a dozen fightin' devils, and I know it's you who can. "
And O'Leary, he saluted like a first-class fightin' man.
O'Leary's eye was piercin' and O'Leary's voice was clear:
"Dimitri Georgoupoulos! " And Dimitri answered "Here! "
Then "Vladimir Slaminsky! Step three paces to the front,
For we're wantin' you to join us in a little Heinie hunt! "
"Garibaldi Ravioli! " Garibaldi was to share;
And "Ole Axel Kettleson! " and "Thomas Scalp-the-Bear! "
Who was Choctaw by inheritance, bred in the blood and bones,
But set down in army records by the name of Thomas Jones.
"Van Winkle Schuyler Stuyvesant! " Van Winkle was a bud
From the ancient tree of Stuyvesant and had it in his blood;
"Don Miguel de Colombo! " Don Miguel's next of kin
Were across the Rio Grande when Don Miguel went in.
"Ulysses Grant O'Sheridan! " Ulysses' sire, you see,
Had been at Appomattox near the famous apple-tree;
And "Patrick Michael Casey! " Patrick Michael, you can tell,
Was a fightin' man by nature with three fightin' names as well.
"Joe Wheeler Lee! " 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.
