Straight thinking,Straight talking,Straight doing,And a firm belief in the might of right. Patience linked with patriotism,Justice added to kindliness,Uncompromising devotion to this country,And active, not passive, Americanism. To talk less, to mean more,To complain less, to accomplish more,And to so live that every one of us is ready to look Eternity in theface at any […]

To take this trouble seriously,But not to gloom or whine;To never overestimateOur strength, or to declineTo see this is no picnic,But do our earnest partWith brain and muscles, newly trained–To keep a steady heart! To fight, but not to lowerOur standards in the dust;To meet a savage enemyWhose words the world can’t trust.To guard our […]

Line after line, you swung along,You men, who only a while agoWere just a part of the city’s throngWorking for self, sedate and slow.But now–what a diff’rence! Living throbsOf the Nation’s heart! Her reborn men;And some who saw you gulped back sobs–And wished you were marching home again!Our eyes were dim as you went past,For […]

We rode at night, and the cut-steel starsDaggered the black of the quiet sky;Yet Venus had taken the place of MarsIn the Scheme of the Silent Worlds on high.The ribbon of road ran straight ahead;The night air whipped your hair and your face,Our hearts kept time to the horses’ pace,And we were alive, and our […]

What is the cost of a day in Spring–A wind-swept, rain-washed golden day?A day that with joy is bubbling–And dancing adown a world mad-gay? You’ve paid for that day with days gone by–The gloomy days and the days of rain;The days that you’d like to forget–and try–Days that were tuned to a note of pain. […]

The radiant dawn flows up the empty sky,Its singing colors heralding the day,And yet, before the tardy sun is high,Unfinished morning fades and slips away.While Nature holds her fragrant breath at dawnWatching the loveliness she’s made–it’s gone! From dew-drenched garden thrills a thrush’s call–That liquid note that all night long was stilled–The living chalice, brown […]

“Write me,” she ordered, nodding her head,“A song of the rippling Spring that is gone–A song that’s different from songs that are dead–Different as sunset is from the dawn.Sparkling with happiness, heavy with dew,Trilling and thrilling, all the way through;Fill it with heaven’s own laughing blue–Write it!” she said. So I wrote it–“Love’s Pawn.” I […]

A thousand years from now, how will this earthConduct itself? Will there be wars, and menInventing things? Or will there be a dearthOf ideas (such as we feel, now and then?)Nobody knows. We can surmise, perchance–But glancing that far oft is quite some glance! A thousand years from now–in Time’s swift flight–The aeroplane itself may […]

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 alongWhen there’s nothing going wrong;But when your […]

It isn’t just colors and bunting–The red and the blue and the white.It’s something heaps better and finer,–It’s the soul of my country in sight! There’s a lot of ceremony ’bout the Flag,Though many half-baked patriots believeSalutin’ it and hangin’ it correct“Is only loyalty upon the sleeve.”But we who work beneath the Flag to-day,Who’ll honor […]

Billy is a ladies’ man; Billy dances fine(Always was a bear-cat at the game);Billy pulls the social stuff all along the line–But he knows this business, just the same. He can march; he can drillAs hard as any rook;And he knows his manualWithout his little book. Maybe he was soft at first–ev’rybody’s that;Golfing was his […]

It’s a high-falutin’ title they have handed us;It’s very complimentary an’ grand;But a year or so ago they called us “hicks,” you know–An’ joshed the farmer and his hired hand! Now it’s, “Save the country, Farmer!Be a soldier of the soil!Show your patriotism, pardner,By your never-ending toil.”So we’re croppin’ more than ever,An’ we’re speedin’ up […]

Little mother, little mother, with the shadows in your eyes And the icy hand of Fear about your heart, You cannot help your boy prepare to make his sacrifice Unless you make yours bravely, at the start! He is training, as a million others train;He is giving what the others give–their best;Make him feel your […]

Mighty little doin’–yet a lot to do–While the navy’s standin’ guard, we are lookin’ out;Patrol boats in shoals, good old craft and newHustle here and skitter there–what’s it all about? Speed boats and slow boatsLoaf around or run,But ev’ry unit of this fleetMounts a wicked gun! Pleasure craft a-plenty, all dolled up in grayGrim and […]

You mustn’t hate the enemy–that wastes a lot of “pep”–The Colonel passed the word around the training camp to-day.The Captain says with modern war we gotta all catch step;“Cut out the rough-necked rage and talk, and don’t you think or say: “‘Pirates, rapists, murderers; poisoners and lying thieves;Super-vandals, run amuck–black devils quoting sermons;This world was […]

He’s not very handsome or clever, He’s slow in his wits–and he’s fat, And yet he’s a soldier of Uncle Sam’s– Now, whaddy you know about that? We always called him Dummy,And thought he wouldn’t fight;We sneered at him and jeered at him–He was–and is–a sight!His feet are big, his head is small,His German blood […]

Bugler Bill–mild-mannered, shy–Is straight…. But I wonder if Bill would lie? Bugler Bill is a pensive lad,Whether he’s workin’ or not;Serious-faced an’ pitiful sad–(Think he was goin’ t’ be shot!)Whenever he bugles, some of us cry–Reveille, taps, or mess–With musical sob-stuff Bill gets by,Plaintive and full of distress! Bugler Bill is never real gay,But built […]

This is the story as told to me;It may be a fairy-tale new,But I know the man, and I know that he liesVery infrequently, too! When the boys in khaki first were called to serve,Guarding railroad bridges and the like,Bob was just a private in the old N. G.,Fond of all the work–except the hike.When […]

The capting says, says he to us:“Your duty is to do your best;We can’t ALL lead in this here muss,So mind your job! That is the testO’ soldierin’,O’ soldierin’–To mind your job, while soldierin’!” When Jimmy joined the colors first, he knowed that soon he’d beA non-com. officer,–oh, sure, he had that idee firm;But Jimmy […]

Back of the Front in this durn trainin’ camp,Day after day we are stuck, an’ we swearWhenever we hear th’ regular trampOf th’ men who are through and are goin’ somewhere.We’re all of us willin’, but why keep us drillin’Forever?… Just waitin’ for somethin’ to do! At home they are readin’ th’ outlandish nameOf a […]