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.