Home, for my heart still calls me;
    Home, through the danger zone;
  Home, whatever befalls me,
    I will sail again to my own!

  Wolves of the sea are hiding
    Closely along the way,
  Under the water biding
    Their moment to rend and slay.

  Black is the eagle that brands them,
    Black are their hearts as the nights
  Black is the hate that sends them
    To murder but not to fight.

  Flower of the German Culture,
    Boast of the Kaiser’s Marine,
  Choose for your emblem the vulture,
    Cowardly, cruel, obscene!

  Forth from her sheltered haven
    Our peaceful ship glides slow,
  Noiseless in flight as a raven,
    Gray as a hoodie crow.

  She doubles and turns in her bearing,
    Like a twisting plover she goes;
  The way of her westward faring
    Only the captain knows.

  In a lonely bay concealing
    She lingers for days, and slips
  At dusk from her covert, stealing
    Thro’ channels feared by the ships.

  Brave are the men, and steady,
    Who guide her over the deep,—­
  British mariners, ready
    To face the sea-wolf’s leap.

  Lord of the winds and waters,
    Bring our ship to her mark,
  Safe from this game of hide-and-seek
    With murderers in the dark!

On the S.S. Baltic, May, 1917.

THE WINDS OF WAR-NEWS

  The winds of war-news change and veer: 
  Now westerly and full of cheer,
  Now easterly, depressing, sour
  With tidings of the Teutons’ power.

  But thou, America, whose heart
  With brave Allies has taken part,
  Be not a weathercock to change
  With these wild winds that shift and range.

  Be thou a compass ever true,
  Through sullen clouds or skies of blue,
  To that great star which rules the night,—­
  The star of Liberty and Right.

  Lover of peace, oh set thy soul,
  Thy strength, thy wealth, thy conscience whole,
  To win the peace thine eyes foresee,—­
  The triumph of Democracy.

December 19, 1917.

RIGHTEOUS WRATH

  There are many kinds of anger, as many kinds of fire;
  And some are fierce and fatal with murderous desire;
  And some are mean and craven, revengeful, sullen, slow,
  They hurt the man that holds them more than they hurt his foe.

  And yet there is an anger that purifies the heart: 
  The anger of the better against the baser part,
  Against the false and wicked, against the tyrant’s sword,
  Against the enemies of love, and all that hate the Lord.

  O cleansing indignation, O flame of righteous wrath,
  Give me a soul to feel thee and follow in thy path! 
  Save me from selfish virtue, arm me for fearless fight,
  And give me strength to carry on, a soldier of the Right!