The Poems of Henry Van Dyke eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 381 pages of information about The Poems of Henry Van Dyke.

The Poems of Henry Van Dyke eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 381 pages of information about The Poems of Henry Van Dyke.

  For land and water let us make our pact,
  And seal the solemn word with valiant act: 
  No continent is firm, no ocean pure,
  Until on both the rights of man are sure.

April, 1917.

THE RED CROSS

  Sign of the Love Divine
    That bends to bear the load
  Of all who suffer, all who bleed,
    Along life’s thorny road: 

  Sign of the Heart Humane,
    That through the darkest fight
  Would bring to wounded friend and foe
    A ministry of light: 

  O dear and holy sign,
    Lead onward like a star! 
  The armies of the just are thine,
    And all we have and are.

October 20, 1918.

For the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call.

EASTER ROAD

1918

  Under the cloud of world-wide war,
  While earth is drenched with sorrow,
  I have no heart for idle merrymaking,
  Or for the fashioning of glad raiment. 
  I will retrace the divine footmarks,
  On the Road of the first Easter.

  Down through the valley of utter darkness
  Dripping with blood and tears;
  Over the hill of the skull, the little hill of great anguish,
  The ambuscade of Death. 
  Into the no-man’s-land of Hades
  Bearing despatches of hope to spirits in prison,
  Mortally stricken and triumphant
  Went the faithful Captain of Salvation.

  Then upward, swiftly upward,—­
  Victory, liberty, glory,
  The feet that were wounded walked in the tranquil garden,
  Bathed in dew and the light of deathless dawn.

  O my soul, my comrades, soldiers of freedom,
  Follow the pathway of Easter, for there is no other,
  Follow it through to peace, yea, follow it fighting. 
  This Armageddon is not darker than Calvary. 
  The day will break when the Dragon is vanquished;
  He that exalteth himself as God shall be cast down,
  And the Lords of war shall fall,
  And the long, long terror be ended,
  Victory, justice, peace enduring! 
  They that die in this cause shall live forever,
  And they that live shall never die,
  They shall rejoice together in the Easter of a new world.

March 31, 1918.

AMERICA’S WELCOME HOME

  Oh, gallantly they fared forth in khaki and in blue,
  America’s crusading host of warriors bold and true;
  They battled for the rights of man beside our brave Allies,
  And now they’re coming home to us with glory in their eyes.

   Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me! 
    Our hearts are turning home again and there we long to be,
    In our beautiful big country beyond the ocean bars,
    Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Poems of Henry Van Dyke from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.