Hello, Boys! | Page 2

Peace from out her cage has flown.?Yet, when men no more march by,?Making pictures for the eye,
There's a vital dash of colour earth will lack,?When the brave Highland laddies?Drop their kilts and their plaidies,
And return to common clothes of grey or black!
MEN OF THE SEA
Many the songs of the brave boys sent?Over The Top in the battle's thunder;?But mine is the song of the men who went?Over the top of the waves--and under.
Men of the sea, Men of the sea,?I lift mine eyes to the Flags unfurled -?The Flags of Victory blowing free?Over the new-born world.?And I cry 'Thank God! these things can be!?Thank God, and the Men of the Sea!'
Little it matters to what they belong,?Marine or Navy--or Merchant Ship -?To the Men of the Sea I sing my song;?A song that rises from heart to lip.
I sing of the valour that ploughed a path?Straight through the snares of a crafty foe,?Through billows raging with wintry wrath,?And over the dens of the devils below.
To the splendid heroes of Jutland Bank?And the Royal Navy I give their due;?And cheek by jowl with them all, I rank?The brave mine-sweepers and merchant crew.
Trawler--Drifter--or English Fleet -?All are manned by the Men of the Sea,?And all together in my heart meet,?For a boat is a boat to the mind of me.
And who ever over the dread seas fared,?And however humble his work or place,?To the great Christ spirit must be compared -?Since he offered his life for the good of the race.
And how many lie in the deep-sea bed,?No man can reckon, and no man number;?But not one Soul of them all is dead,?For death is only the body's slumber.
And the Men of the Mist, who from dark to dawn?On the deck or the bridge stand guard at night,?Oft feel the presence of comrades gone?Who keep watch with them, though veiled from sight.
Many the songs of the brave boys sent?Over The Top in the battle's thunder;?But mine is the song of the men who went?Over the top of the waves--and under.
ODE TO THE BRITISH FLEET
'Invisible and silent'--Mystery?Surrounded that great Guardian of the Sea.?That Father--Mother--of the mighty main.?While loud in valley and on field and hill -?And over anguished plain?The battles thundered. God himself is still?And hidden from men's view; and it were meet?That this subliminal force?Should move in utter silence on its course?Invisible--Inaudible--till that hour?When Time, Fate's Minister, should speak and say -?'Come forth! and show thy power!'?When Time commands, even the gods obey.
'Invisible and silent'; yet the foe?Was driven from the Sea. All impotent?The brazen braggart went.?While commerce sent her brave ships to and fro;?And from Columbia's shores there sailed away?Ten thousand men a day -?Ten thousand men a day! who reached their goals?Bringing new courage to war-weary souls.
Oh, silent wonder of the noisy sea!?Though alien, with the blood of Bunker Hill?Down filtering through my veins, the heart of me?Seems with a mingled love and awe to fill?And overflow at thought of that sublime,?Unparalleled large hour of Time;?When bloodless Victory saw the foes' flag furled -?That insolent menace to a righteous world.
Great Britain's Fleet unshaken in its might,?Proclaimed itself again in all men's sight?The Mistress of the Main. Fair Freedom's friend,?May peace and glory on thy path attend.
THE GERMAN FLEET
Lie down, and let the billows hide your shame,?Oh, shorn and naked outcast of the seas!?You who confided to each ocean breeze?Your coming conquests, and made loud acclaim?Of your own grandeur and exalted fame;?You who have catered to they world's disease;?You who have drunk hate's wine, and found the lees;?Lie down! and let all men forget your name!
You dreamed of world dominion! you! the spawn?Of hell and hatred--Foe to all things free -?Sworn enemy to honour, truth and right;?Too poor a thing now for the Devil's pawn,?Let the large mercy of the outraged sea?Engulf and hide you evermore from sight.
DEEP UNTO DEEP WAS CALLING
They rode through the bannered city -?The King and the Commoner,?And the hopes of the world were with them,?And the heart of the world was astir.?For the moss-grown walls seemed falling?That have shut away men from Kings;?And Deep unto Deep was calling?For the coming of greater things.
They rode to an age-old Palace?Where the feet of the Mighty go -?(A Palace that stands unshaken?Despite the boast of the foe!)?And the King from Kings descending -?And the Man of the People's choice?In a Super-Man seemed blending,?And they spoke as with one voice.
And one voice now and for ever?Will speak from sea to sea,?Wherever the British Banner?And the Starry Flag float free.?For our fettering chains are sundered?By the evil that turned to good,?And Deep unto Deep has thundered?Its message of Brotherhood.
It was not a pageant of Victors -?Or a triumph hour of man,?That ride through the bannered City,?It was part of a Mighty Plan;?And the sound of old barriers falling?Rose there where those