Ballads of Peace in War | Page 7

my drum.
They must be thankful, I am sure,
Because they now may feel secure,

And rest so safe and sound in bed,
Without wild dreams of fearful
dread;
For now they hear me all the day,
As round the yard I march
and play,
To let them know if war should come
They'll get the
warning of my drum.

20
Preparedness
II.
THE SAILOR

A sailor that rides the ocean wave,
And I in my room at home:
Where are the seas I fear to brave,
Or the lands I may not roam?
At
the attic window I take my stand,
And tighten the curtain sail,
Then,
ahoy! I ride the leagues of land,
Whether in calm or gale.
Tree at anchor along the road
Bow as I speed along;
At sunny brooks in the valley I load
Cargoes of blossom and song;

Stories I take on the passing wind
From the plains and forest seas,

And the Golden Fleece I yet will find,
And the fruit of Hesperides.
Steady I keep my watchful eyes,
As I range the thousand miles,
Till
evening tides in western skies
Turn gold the cloudland isles;
Then
fast is the hatch and dark the screen,
And I bring my cabin light;

With a wink I change to a submarine
And drop in the sea of Night.
21
WAR IN THE NORTH
Not from Mars and not from Thor
Comes the war, the welcome war,

Many months we waited for
To free us from the bondage
Of
Winter's gloomy reign:
Valor to our hope is bound,
Songs of
courage loud resound,
Vowed is Spring to win her ground
Through
all our northern country,
>From Oregon to Maine.
All our loyal brave allies
In the Southlands mobilize,
Faith is sworn
to our emprise,
The scouting breezes whisper
That help is sure
today:
Vanguards of the springtime rains
Cannonade the hills and
plains,
Freeing them from Winter's chains,
So birds and buds may
flourish
Around the throne of May.
Hark! and hear the clarion call
Bluebirds give by fence and wall!

Look! The darts of sunlight fall,

And red shields of the robins
Ride

boldly down the leas;
Hail! The cherry banners shine,
Onward
comes the battle line,--
On! White dogwood waves the sign,
And
exile troops of blossoms
Are sailing meadow seas.
22
War in the North
Winter's tyrant king retires;
Spring leads on her legion choirs

Where the hedges sound their lyres;
The victor hills and valleys

Ring merrily the tune:
April cohorts guard the way
For the great
enthroning day,
When the Princess of May
Shall wed within our
northlands
The charming Prince of June.
23
THE HAPPY TIME
Two gloomy scenes may be,
Or count you three:
A building hope all crushed at morn,
A bridal day in clouds of rain,

And night that keeps a mother's pain
For tidings of a child forlorn.
Of happy times count more,
Admit these four:
A flower of promise rich with day,
A son with victories that wear
A
halo on his mother's way:
And friends whose hearts ring like a chime

Across the world at Christmas time.
24
THE TIME OF TRUCE
Two young lads from childhood up
Drank together friendship's cup:

Joe was glad with Bill at play,
Bill was home to Joe alway.

On their friendship came the blight
Of a little thoughtless fight;

Then, alas! each passing day
Farther bore these friends away.
There was grief in either heart,
Bleeding deep from sorrow's dart,

When in thoughtfulness again
Each beheld the other's pain.
But the shades of night are furled
When the morning takes the world,

And the Christmas days of peace
Make our little quarrels cease.
Bill and Joe on Christmas Day
Met as in the olden way;
Bill put out
his hand to Joe,--
It was Christmas Day, you know.
Bill and Joe are friends again,
And to them long years remain;
Time
may take them far away,
They keep Christmas every day.
25
BETHLEHEM
O ye who sail Potomac's even tide
To Vernon's shades, our
Chieftain's hallowed mound;
Or who at distant shrines high paeans
sound
In Alfred's cult, old England's morning pride;
Or seek
Versailles, conceited as a bride,
With garish memories of kins strewn
round;
Or lay your spirit's cheek on Forum ground,
For here a
mighty Caesar lived and died:
To these and other stones, O ye who
speed,
Since there, forsooth, a prince was passing great,
More
zealous let your heart's adoring heed
The Child most Royal in a crib's
estate.
No poor so poor, no king more king than He:
Come, better
pilgrims, to this mystery.
26
A VOW-DAY FLOWER
(POVERTY, CHASTITY, OBEDIENCE)

Three little leaves like shamrock,
And the trefoil's love-lit eyes,

Whether it takes the sunshine
Or the shadows from the skies.
And richer than rose or lily
Is the flower he wears today,
With
triune bloom and fragrance
>From earth to heaven alway.
Poverty is the low leaf,
And one is chastely white,
And the red love
of obedience
Goes up to God a light.
Grow, good flower, and keep him
Who wears your bloom today,

Shadow and sunshine bless him,
And the trefoil's heavenward way.
27
THE TREE IN THE TENEMENT YARD
(For T. A. Daly)
America, Ireland and Italy,
All have known this poor old tree.
0. * *
A rickety fence goes round the yard
And the noisy streets stand high:

The grassless ground is brown and hard,
And the cinder pathways,
lined with shard,
Sees but a bit