Golden Stars | Page 4

Cross of righteous war.

And everywhere, on mountain, vale and plain,
In crowded street
and lonely cottage door,
I saw the symbol of the bright blue star.

Millions of stars! Rejoice, dear land, rejoice
That God hath made thee
great enough to give
Beneath thy starry flag unfurled
A gift to all
the world,--
Thy living sons that Liberty might live.
II

It seems but yesterday they sallied forth
Boys of the east, the west,
the south, the north,
High-hearted, keen, with laughter and with song,

Fearless of lurking danger on the sea,
Eager to fight in Flanders or
in France
Against the monstrous German wrong,
And sure of
victory!
Brothers in soul with British and with French
They held
their ground in many a bloody trench;
And when the swift word
came--
_Advance!_
Over the top they went through waves of
flame,--
Confident, reckless, irresistible,
Real Americans,--
Their
rush was never stayed
Until the foe fell back, defeated and dismayed.

O land that bore them, write upon thy roll
Of battles won
To
liberate the human soul,
Château Thierry and Saint Mihiel
And the
fierce agony of the Argonne;
Yea, count among thy little rivers, dear

Because of friends whose feet have trodden there,
The Marne, the
Meuse, and the Moselle.
III
Now the vile sword
In Potsdam forged and bathed in hell,
Is beaten
down, the victory given
To the sword forged in faith and bathed in
heaven.
Now home again our heroes come:
Oh, welcome them with
bugle and with drum,
Ring bells, blow whistles, make a joyful noise

Unto the Lord,
And welcome home our blue-star boys,
Whose
manhood has made known
To all the world America,
Unselfish,
brave and free, the Great Republic,
Who lives not to herself alone.
IV
But many a lad we hold
Dear in our heart of hearts
Is missing from
the home-returning host.
Ah, say not they are lost,
For they have
found and given their life

In sacrificial strife:
Their service stars
have changed from blue to gold!
That sudden rapture took them far
away,
Yet are they here with us today,
Even as the heavenly stars
we cannot see
Through the bright veil of sunlight
Shed their
influence still
On our vexed life, and promise peace
From God to

all men of good will.
V
What wreaths shall we entwine
For our dear boys to deck their holy
shrine?
Mountain-laurel, morning-glory,
Goldenrod and asters blue,

Purple loosestrife, prince's-pine,
Wild-azalea, meadow-rue,

Nodding-lilies, columbine,--
All the native blooms that grew
In
these fresh woods and pastures new,
Wherein they loved to ramble
and to play.
Bring no exotic flowers:
America was in their hearts,

And they are ours
For ever and a day.
VI
O happy warriors, forgive the tear
Falling from eyes that miss you;

Forgive the word of grief from mother-lips
That ne'er on earth shall
kiss you;
Hear only what our hearts would have you hear,--
Glory
and praise and gratitude and pride
From the dear country in whose
cause you died.
Now you have run your race and won your prize,

Old age shall never burden you, the fears
And conflicts that beset our
lingering years
Shall never vex your souls in Paradise.
Immortal,
young, and crowned with victory,
From life's long battle you have
found release.
And He who died for all on Calvary
Has welcomed
you, brave soldiers of the cross,
Into eternal Peace.
VII
Come, let us gird our loins and lift our load,
Companions who are left
on life's rough road,
And bravely take the way that we must tread

To keep true faith with our beloved dead.
To conquer war they dared
their lives to give,
To safeguard peace our hearts must learn to live.

Help us, dear God, our forward faith to hold!
We want a better world
than that of old.
Lead us on paths of high endeavor,
Toiling upward,
climbing ever,
Ready to suffer for the right,
Until at last we gain a
loftier height,

More worthy to behold
Our guiding stars, our

hero-stars of gold.
Ode for the Memorial Service,
Princeton University, December 15,
1918.
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