With the Colors | Page 4

can all be strong
And
steady in our loyalty to them!
Not with unfettered thought, or tongue
let loose
In bitterness and hate--a childish game!
But with a faith,
untroubled by abuse,
That honors those who put the rest to shame!
There is no middle ground on which to stand;
We've done with

useless pro-and-con debates;
The one-time friend, so welcome in this
land,
Has turned upon us at our very gates.
There is no way, with
honor, to stand back--
Real patriotism isn't cool--then hot;
You
cannot trim the flag to fit your lack;
You are American--or else you're
not!
THE OLD NATIONAL GUARD
You pull a lot of funny stuff about us, when there's peace, The jokes
you spring are sometimes rough, and make a guy see red; But when
there's trouble in the air you "vaudevillians" cease, And them that
laughed the loudest laugh, salute the flag instead!
Oh, it's kid the boys along
When there's nothing going wrong;
But
when your country's facin' war,
You sing a different song!
The khaki that they doll us in ain't seen war service--no!
The most of
it has been worn thin a-loafin' 'round the mess; Folks think it's great to
josh us when things are goin' slow, But when the country's all het
up--we ain't so worse, I guess!
Then it's, "Look! The Guard is here;
Fine set of men, muh dear."...

(We'd like it better if you spread
Your jollies through th' year!)
We're only folks--th' reg'lar kind--that answered to th' call; We may be
dumb and also blind--but still we'll see it through! Just wearin' khaki
doesn't change our insides--not a'tall!
We're human (Does that seem
so strange?) waitin' to fight--for you!
We mayn't be worth a cuss
In this ugly foreign muss,
But when the
nation needs some help,
Why--pass the job to us!
THE ALIEN
(Of course, this didn't happen,
But if it had--
Would you have been
shocked?)

She was a pretty little thing,
Round-headed, bronze-haired and trim

As a yacht.
And when she married a handsome, polished Prussian

(Before the war was ours)
Her friends all said
She'd made no
mistake.
He had much money, and he wasn't arrogant--
To her.

Their baby came--
Big and blue-eyed,
Solemn and serious,
With
his father's arrogance in the small.
She knew how wonderful a child
he was
And said so.
The husband knew it, too--
Because the child
looked like him,
And they were happy
Until the Nation roused itself,

Stretched and yawned
And got into the hellish game of kill.
Then
the man,
Who had been almost human,
Dropped his mask,
And
uncovered his ragged soul.
Having no sense of right or wrong--
No spiritual standards for
measurements;
Feeding upon that same egotism
That swept his
country
Into the depths of hate--
He sneered and laughed
At her
pale patriotism
And the country that inspired it.
There was no open
break between them,
For a child's small hands
Clung to both and
kept them close.
Shutting her eyes to all else
Save that she was his
wife,
She played her part well.
His work--his bluff at work,
instead--
Was something big and important
(Always he looked the
importance)
That had to do with ships--
Ships that idled at their
docks to-day

Because they were interned.
And there was always
money--
More money than she had ever known,--
Which he
lavished--on himself
And his desires.
Not that he gave her nothing,
For he did....
They lived in a big hotel,

And the child had everything it should have
And much it should
not.
She, too, was cared for well,
After his wants were satisfied.
Then--
The silent blow fell.
Secret service men called upon him,

And next day he was taken away
To a detention camp
For alien
enemies.
Interned like the anchor-chafing ships
That once had
flown his flag!
The woman, up in arms, dinned at officials
Until (so
easy-going and so slow to learn)
They told her what he had done.


That night she stared long at their child, asleep,
And at its father's
picture,
On her dresser....
Did the wife-courage that transcends

All other kinds of bravery
Keep her awake for hours,
Planning,
scheming, thinking?

A week later she and the child--
A blue-eyed, self-assertive mite--

Were at the camp,
She carrying it (the nurse was left behind)
And
the passports that allowed her to see him
One hour, with a guard five
yards away.
Some of his polite impudence was gone,
Yet he threw
back his head and shoulders
And shrugged as his wife and boy came
in.
"Always late," said he, after a perfunctory kiss,
"You--and your
country!"
She stared long at him, holding the child close,
Her own
round, bronze head bowed.
Then, with a swift glance at the guard
Thoughtfully chewing a straw
and looking
At the city of shacks,
She spoke.
"Did you know,
Karl," she whispered,
"That my brother was on that transport--
My
only brother--a soldier--my only blood?
If it had gone down--that
transport--been sunk--"
"Well?" said he. That was all.
"My
brother--my only--Karl!"
"Well?" said he again. "What of it?"

Then--her little head lifted, her eyes gone mad--
"This!" she said.
"Rather than give
Life to another human scorpion like you--
Man in
form only!--Lower than the floor of hell itself;
Rather than have my
blood mingle with
The foul poison that is yours,
To make a child of
ours--
This: I give him back to you--
And recall my love--all of my
love!"
Again he shrugged his shoulders,
Yawned--and saw, too late.