Fifes and Drums — Poems of America at War. The Vigilantes
Columbia's Shop
Fifes and Drums—Poems of America at War
FOREWORD
These poems, written under the immediate stress of great events by those who have banded themselves together under the name of The Vigilantes, furnish a striking record of the emotional reactions of the American people during the fortnight preceding and the six weeks following the declaration of war. They are presented to the public in the belief that men and women in every corner of the Union will find reflected in them some of the love and aspiration they themselves are experiencing for their re-discovered country.
FIFES AND DRUMS
AMERICA UNAFRAID
I
America will wake
To the stern task before her. She will break
The bonds of Sloth and dull Indifference,
And, with the soul of Lincoln in her eyes,
Dare to be great and wise;
Dare to be valiant with the valor still
That echoes from the crest of Bunker Hill;
The valor that gave Grant and Lee their fame
After the battle-flame;
The valor that has kept our country whole
While the clean years unroll;
The valor that has giv'n us all body, and heart, and soul!
II
America will be
As one in her old love of Liberty.
She will remember naught of party and creed
In her great hour of need;
But one in spirit, one in high accord,
Her people will await the final word
That bids them strike for Justice. Her keen sword
Will never be unsheathed, save in the name of Christ, our Lord!
III
There is a fear
Running through our broad country, far and near;
A rumor that foul traitors at our gate
Whisper, and plan, and wait;
A rumor that beneath us crawls the hostile worm of hate. …
It may be so! But I believe that now
Each man can disavow
Old enmities, and, loyal to the end,
Count it his privilege to be his country's friend;
Count it his right to suffer for the land
That hailed him, and stretched forth a welcoming
hand When he, heart-broken, from an alien shore,
Came as a stranger to our open door.
IV
America, beware!
Lest, knowing the red burden you must bear,
You falter now! We pray for Peace—white Peace;
Yet if soft days must cease,
We shall go forth, fearless, and as one,
Until our task for Liberty is done.
Charles Hanson Towne.
THE ULTIMATE ARGUMENT
Before the high court of King Lion the Strong
The wily Hyena appeared with a throng
Of Jackals as witnesses, charging the Ass
With wronging him foully by eating the grass.
"This rogue," the Hyena indignantly cried,
"Without any warrant express or implied,
Devours the herbage so luscious and sweet
And cruelly leaves me with nothing to eat.
I pray the Court, therefore, to grant me relief,
Including permission to dine on the thief."
The Ass pleaded humbly with down-hanging ears,
(Addressing a Jury composed of his peers):
"Dear friends, that I graze in the meadow is true,
But not without warrant. My course I pursue
By right of a Document sealed with a Seal—
King Solomon's firman which none may repeal."
"Ha!" snarled the Hyena; "but where is your proof?"
"My warrant is writ," said the Ass, "on my hoof."
"Indeed!" sneered the Plaintiff; "then show it, I beg."
"Look well!" brayed the Ass, as he drew up a leg.
Close peered the Hyena. The Ass gave a snort
And kicked the Conspirator clean out of Court.
L'Envoi
While Patience is praiseworthy, even in Gath,
And Sweetness may possibly turn away Wrath,
The mildest can have but one answer to give
Oppressors who question their title to live.
Arthur Guiterman.
THE SONG
Along the misty beaches, where the great wind-voices cry,
Where the sea's reverberant thunder sends its challenge to the sky,
And its deeper echoes lure us, from the countries where they