Erwin Clarkson Garrett

“ For she’s the breeze o’ the Southern Seas
Where the egg-spume waters turn.
My love she wraps me in her arms
With a crushing grasp and wild,
For she was born o’ the six-months morn,
A strong, tumultuous child.
My love needs throw a kiss to me,
And the kiss is the rainbow spray,
Then laughing in glee, coquettishly,
She lightly trips away. ”

“ However, if recollections of my personal campaigns against Cæsar—armed only with a Latin vocabulary and grammar—serve me rightly, the old Roman was not merely a worthy foe, but one who might well be held up as a worthy example; who dealt with his chronicles as he dealt with his enemies on the field, in a simple, direct, forcible manner, bare of circumlocution, tautology or ambiguity—that he who runs may read—and reading, know his Gaul and Gallic chieftains, his Cæsar and his Cæsar’s legionaries, even as Cæsar knew them. ”

“ Along the plains of Java
We shook you by the hand,
And watched among Tosari’s hills
The lace Tjemaras stand:
Or Aden’s great cathedral rocks—
High—majestic—bare—
Or Karnak’s columns rising sheer
Through the clear Egyptian air.
We’ve laughed with you in Poeroek Tjahoe, [A]
In the heart of Borneo,{122}
Ere we hit the trail to northward
Where the lesser rivers flow:
Where the angry Moeroeng cuts the hills
And the endless jungles rise,
And the Dyak kampongs nestle ’neath
The speckless, fleckless skies. ”

“ The far-flung Nations knew.
Lord of the last least horizon—
King of the Outer Seas—
Where beat a heart, where stood a mart,
There bended suppliant knees—
To Thee—Resplendent Sovereign—
Cradled among the hills,
Who still through the countless centuries
The wondering watcher thrills.
Only a Tale of the Ages—
Power and Pride and Death—
And the afterlight of an Empire’s might—
And the soft Campania’s breath.{115} ”

“ In the teeth of the driving gale.
Oh the fair-weather lights o’er the sheltered bights
Are welcome sights to see—
But the foul-weather lights o’ the stormy nights,
Are the Lamps of the Years to be. ”

“ We’ll tramp anew the jungle through
Where ferned Pitcairnias rise,
And the softly fanned Tjemaras stand
Green lace against the skies,
And the last red ray of the tropic day
Flickers and flares and dies.
Across the full-swung, shifting seas
There comes a beck’ing gleam,
Strong as the iron hand of Fate—
Sweet as a lover’s dream. ”

“ By every ocean, gulf and land,
Stout hearts and humble knees:
Oh men of the Outer Reaches—
Oh men of the palm-lined beaches—
Oh men where the ice-pack bleaches—
Oh Brethren o’ the far-flung seas. ”

“ The poems show a keen appreciation of the romantic and picturesque side of the soldier’s life with touches of humor and pathos that make up the comedy and tragedy of the calling. Mr. Garrett’s verses are truly sympathetic and appeal to worthy sentiment. They are among the best of anything which has been written in any form concerning the Army and they deserve appreciation. If the Army has a poet who has shown himself by his verses capable of expressing in this form service traditions and military life, it must be this former soldier. ”

“ But the Solitary there in his cramped and lonely lair,
It’s enough to drive a man insane.
He’s time to repent for the money that he spent
And the temper that cursed him too,
When he’s breaking rock all day by the shores o’ ’Frisco Bay
Where he sees the happy homeward-bounds come through. ”

“ Poeroek Tjahoe was the last white (Dutch) settlement, and from there I went with three Malay coolies five days tramp on foot through the jungle, northwest, penetrating the very heart of Borneo, sleeping the first three nights in the houses of the Dyaks, some nomadic tribes of whom still roam the jungle as head-hunters, and the last two nights upon improvised platforms out in the open, till I reached Batoe Paoe, a town or kampong in the geographical center of the island. ”

“ And over the seas in the scud-wet breeze
We lift for the Land o’ Ghosts.
“For the Land o’ Ghosts and the laughing coasts
And the goal we hope to win—
Though ne’er we reach the beckoning beach,
Ye have let us look within.
. . . . . . . . . .
“Though ne’er we reach the beckoning beach—
Though it fades ere we leap to land,
Ye have made us rife with the strength of life—
{110} Ye have spoke ... and we understand.” ”

“ ON THE WATER-WAGON
Pay-day’s done and I’ve had my little fun—
I’ve had my monthly row—
And they put me in “the mill” and they told me, “Peace be still,”
And—I am on the Water-wagon now.
Oh I’m on the Water-wagon and the time is surely draggin’
And I’m thirsty as I can be;
And I’m nursing of an eye that I got for being fly,
And I’m bunking back o’ bars exclusively.
Now wouldn’t it upset you—now wouldn’t it afret you
If they jugged you ’cause you got a little tight,
And a zig-zag course you laid when doing Dress Parade,
And you really thought Guide Right was Column Right. ”

“ As a log in the Moeroeng rapids
The mighty chieftain rolled,
And I pinned him fast for the head-stroke,
In the reek of the blood-stained mold.
And I pinned him fast for the head-stroke—
But the glare of the dying eyes
Gleamed forth to show the worthy foe
And the heart that never dies.
. . . . . . . . . .
A moment toward a kampong,
And toward a kampong maid,
I looked ... ”

“ But if your town they raze—and if your home’s ablaze
You will wake and learn the Kingdom of the Sword.{130}
You will wake and learn the word your Fathers taught you—
You will wake and learn the truth—but all too late:
By the shrieking shrapnel’s crying—by the homeless, wronged and dying—
You shall count what, you begrudged to Guard the Gate.
{131}
THE AMERICAN FLAG
It should be needless to note that the persons here addressed do not comprise the whole American people but a certain distinctive type. ”

“ Garrett has preserved the varying conditions of the soldier’s life and the soldier’s sentiment in verses that are really worth while.***”
The Philadelphia Record:
“He has a happy knack of making vivid word-pictures; when he describes something of a battle it all seems clear before our vision; when he tells of camp life, the tented fields are there, and the men, and their tasks. ”

“ They never enthuse over khaki or “blues”
Anywhere else I’ve been.
They never go wild and bless the child
And say “Oh Willie come in.”{37}
Though on my soul, I’m damned if I see
Just where is the Cardinal Sin.
I’m only a buck o’ the rank and file
As stupid as I can be,
So this is the craziest puzzle
That ever has puzzled me.
(I’m perfectly dry but I must bat an eye,
For you think that I cannot see.)
{38}
SOLITARY
We’re walking our post like a little tin soldier,
Backward and forward we go,
By the Solitary’s cell, which assuredly is hell—
It’s five foot square you know. ”

“ The initial poem, “The Dyak Chief,” forming Part One, is a romance of Central Borneo, that I visited in July, 1908, during a little trip around the World.{8}
Coming over from Java, which I had just finished touring, I arrived at Bandjermasin, in southeastern Borneo, near the coast, and from whence I took a small steamer up the Barito River to Poeroek Tjahoe, pronounced “Poorook Jow,” deep in the interior of the island. ”

“ Neither desiring to plagiarize Cæsar nor to compare my book to Gaul, I wish to mention briefly that this volume as a whole is divided into three parts, of which one is occupied by the single poem, “The Dyak Chief,” the verses that give title to the book; another, the second, is occupied by American army ballads, and yet another, the third, is occupied by various verses on miscellaneous subjects. ”

“ Having thus reached the very center of Borneo on foot, I had an excellent opportunity to study the country, the people and the general conditions, so that the reader of “The Dyak Chief” need feel no hesitancy in accepting as accurate and authentic, all descriptions, details and touches of{9} “local color” or “atmosphere” contained in the poem. ”

“ Chicago Inter-Ocean:
“***‘My Bunkie and Other Ballads,’ by Erwin Clarkson Garrett, are poems straight from the heart of a private soldier, full of freshness and color, swing and melody.***”
“Mr. Garrett’s songs are racy of the soil and of the life they celebrate. They have an appeal for all Americans, but particularly for the thousands of American young men who in war times saw the Philippines over the sights of a Krag-Jorgensen.” ”

“ I also visited a nearby village, Olong Liko, afterwards returning by the Moeroeng and Barito Rivers to Poeroek Tjahoe, and from thence back to Bandjermasin on the little river-steamer and then by boat to Singapore, which was the radiating headquarters for my trips to Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Siam. ”

“ Part Two contains a number of new American army ballads, gathered mostly as a result of my personal observations and experiences when serving as a private in Companies “L” and “G,” 23rd U. S. Infantry (Regulars) and Troop “I,” 5th U. S. Cavalry (Regulars) , during the Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902.
As I have just mentioned, the army verses are all new ones, and consequently not to be found among those contained in my previous volume, “My Bunkie and Other Ballads.”
Part Three consists of individual poems on various subjects without any interrelation. ”

“ O’er purple tropic seas—
Where the Arctic winds are whistling
And the north-flung rivers freeze—
We’ve met the men the Maker made
To dwell ’neath fir and palm—
And, we salute thee, friend and man—
M’sieur—le gentilhomme.
{127}
BATTLESHIPS
Addressed to “little-navy” Congressmen.
Fools there lived when the Nations sprang newborn from the arms of God—
Fools there’ll live when the Nations melt in the mold of the markless sod.
Fools there are and fools there were and fools there’ll ever be—
But none like the fools whom the ages teach, and then refuse to see. ”