Edgar Albert Guest

“ To keep in mind from day to day
That I’m a soldier in the fray;
That I must serve, from sun to sun,
As well as he who bears a gun
The flag that flies above us all,
And answer well my country’s call. ”

“ Alone my sorrow I must bear.
They must not know how much I care.
Though women folks may talk and weep,
A man, unseen, his grief must keep,
And hide behind his smile and pride
The loneliness that dwells inside. ”

“ The test of a man is how much he will bear
For a cause which he knows to be right,
How long will he stand in the depths of despair,
How much will he suffer and fight?
There are many to serve when the victory’s near
And few are the hurts to be borne,
But it calls for a leader of courage to cheer
The men in a battle forlorn. ”

“ The Mother on the Sidewalk
The mother on the sidewalk as the troops are marching by
Is the mother of Old Glory that is waving in the sky.
Men have fought to keep it splendid, men have died to keep it bright,
But that flag was born of woman and her sufferings day and night ”

“ We have challenged oppression to show us its might;
We have strutted for years through the world as a race
That for God and for country, earth’s tyrants would face;
Now the gage is flung down, hate is loosed in the world. ”

“ Home to the nights that are sweet with rest,
Home to the friends that are staunch and true,
Home to the red and the white and blue,
Home, where honor is crowned the king—
What sweeter song can the soldier sing? ”

“ But, oh, wonderful country of mine,
How little I’ve given to you!
You have given me a home and a place
Where in safety my babies may play;
Health blooms on each bright dimpled face
And laughter is theirs every day. ”

“ Men that may have stepped aside,
May have lost their old-time pride,
May behold it there, and then
Consecrate themselves again.
Show the flag! The day is gone
When men blindly hurry on
Serving only gods of gold ”

“ The roses haven’t changed a bit, nor have the peonies stranged a bit,
They bud and bloom the way they did before the war began.
The world is upside down today, there’s much to make us frown today
And gloom and sadness everywhere beset the path of man. ”

“ Who travels no new way or strange
In search of the light;
Who never sets out for a goal
That he sees from afar
But contents his indifferent soul
With things as they are.
Life isn’t rest—it is toil;
It is building a dream ”

“ Blood for her blood we’ll give,
Fighting, but not to kill,
Save that the best shall live.
But, when the cannon’s roar
Dies in a hymn of peace,
Justice and truth must reign,
Power of the brute must cease. ”

“ We are done with little thinking and we’re done with little deeds,
We are done with petty conduct and we’re done with narrow creeds;
We have grown to men and women, and we’ve noble work to do,
And today we are a people with a larger point of view. ”

“ Be guided by the men in power;
For God and country I must live,
My best for God and country give;
No act of mine that men may scan
Must shame the name American.
To do my best and play my part,
American in mind and heart ”

“ And costing many lives.
For over us that storm shall break
Ere many weeks have fled,
And we shall pay for our mistake
In fields of mangled dead.
Be ready when the foe shall near,
Be there to strike him hard ”

“ Up to full capacity.
Now’s no time to pick and choose,
We’ve a war we must not lose.
Be your duty great or small,
Do it well and do it all.
Do by careful, patient living,
Do by cheerful, open giving ”

“ Died an hour after bringing us word that the chief was aware of our plight,
An’ for us to hang on to the ditch that we held; the reserves would relieve us at night.
Then we stuck to our trench an’ we stuck to our guns; you know how you’ll fight when you know
That new strength is coming to fill up the gaps. There’s heart in the force of your blow. ”

“ He’s not so keen for standing guard, a lonely vigil keeping,
“But when I must,” he writes to us, “they’ll never find me sleeping!
I hear a lot of boys complain about the tasks they set us
And there’s no doubt that mother’s meals can beat the ones they get us,
But since I’m here to do my bit, close to the job I’m sticking ”