II
It’s “Friend or foe?” when signals
blow
And ships sight ships at sea;
It’s clear for action, and man the guns,
As the battle nears or the battle runs;—
And you’ll remember me,
Sweetheart,
And you’ll remember me.
III
It’s deck to deck, and wrath and wreck
When ships meet ships at sea;
It’s scream of shot and shriek of shell,
And hull and turret a roaring hell;—
And you’ll remember me,
Sweetheart,
And you’ll remember me.
IV
It’s doom and death, and pause a breath
When ships go down at sea;
It’s hate is over and love begins,
And war is cruel whoever wins;—
And you’ll remember me,
Sweetheart,
And you’ll remember me.
The “Kentucky"
(Battleship, launched March 24, 1898.)
I
Here’s to her who bears the name
Of our State;
May the glory of her fame
Be as great!
In the battle’s dread eclipse,
When she opens iron lips,
When our ships confront the ships
Of the foe,
May each word of steel she utters carry woe!
Here’s to her!
II
Here’s to her, who, like a knight
Mailed of old,
From far sea to sea the Right
Shall uphold.
May she always deal defeat,—
When contending navies meet,
And the battle’s screaming sleet
Blinds and stuns,—
With the red, terrific thunder of her guns.
Here’s to her!
III
Here’s to her who bears the name
Of our State;
May the glory of her fame
Be as great!
Like a beacon, like a star,
May she lead our squadrons far,—
When the hurricane of war
Shakes the world,—
With her pennant in the vanward broad unfurled.
Here’s to her!
Quatrains
I
MOTHS AND FIREFLIES
Since Fancy taught me in her school of spells
I know her tricks—These are not moths at
all,
Nor fireflies; but masking Elfland belles
Whose link-boys torch them to Titania’s ball.
II
AUTUMN WILD-FLOWERS
Like colored lanterns swung in Elfin towers,
Wild morning-glories light the tangled ways,
And, like the rosy rockets of the Fays,
Burns the sloped crimson of the cardinal-flowers.
III
THE WIND IN THE PINES
When winds go organing through the pines
On hill and headland, darkly gleaming,
Meseems I hear sonorous lines
Of Iliads that the woods are dreaming.