WAR- 50NNETS ^^ ^ BENJAMIN COLLINS \NroODBURY" / 7 WAR SONNETS by BENJAMIN COLLINS WOODBURY 'Life's battle is a conquest for the strong; The meaning shows in the defeated thing." — John Masefield. HONOLULU. T. H. 19 18 COPYRIGHT BENJAMIN COLLINS WOODBURY 1918 V 26 ISI8 To my brother overseas and to my sister in the service of the Red Cross. CONTENTS Proem : Page Ten Hundred Thousand More - - - 9. 10 . 11 Sonnets War - 15 Neutrality - - - - » 17 At Sea _ 19 Anachronism - - - - _ 21 To Belgium - - _ - - 23 To France - - - - _ 25 To England - - _ - - 27 Poland - - - . - 29 Reims - - - - - _ 31 The Old Front Line _ 33 Washington - - - - - 35 Tolstoi - - - - - 37 Rupert Brooke - - - - - 39 To Gregory - - - - - 41 The Caduceus - - - - - 43 The Red Cross - . - - 45 To Hermann Hagedorn _ 47 Gone East - - - - „ 49 Lafayette - - - - - 51 The Men Who Stay at Home - - 53 Victory - - - 55 To Germany in Defeat - - 57 Our Country - - - - - 59 The Perfect Way - - 61 The Coming Race - - - - 63 PROEM **I think that these four quaHties are indispensable in a great general — knowledge of military affairs, valor, authority and good fortune." — Cicero. TEN HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE* We are coming. Father Pershing, ten hundred thousand more. From eastward and from westward, from the broad Pacific shore; We leave our fields and offices, our wives and loved ones dear. With spirits full of courage, without a single fear; We dare to look behind us, nor dread what lies before: We are coming, Father Pershing, ten hun- dred thousand more! If you look across the house-tops that fringe the western sky. Swift darting flights of birdmen your vision may descry; And now the wind an instant pulls Old Glory's veil aside, *With apology to James Sloan Gibbons, author of "Three Hundred Thousand More," July 2, 1862. And lo! a mighty argosy rolls on in strength and pride. And hosts with gleaming helmets all clad in khaki pour: We are coming. Father Pershing, ten hun- dred thousand more! If you glance down hill and valley where growing cornfields shine. You may see our student army fast fall- ing into line; While juvenile Crusaders are learn- ing the country's needs. And thus with plough and spindle sow not in words but deeds; And for every home left vacant there rise two martyrs more: We are coming, Father Pershing, ten hun- dred thousand more! 10 You have called us, and we're coming, by convoy o'er the tide. To die if need in Flanders fields, our brothers' bones beside. And from the enemies of freedom to wrench the dripping sword. Or in the face of foreign foe to frag- ments break the horde. Ten hundred thousand men and more as true have gone before: We are coming. Father Pershing, ten hun- dred thousand more! 11 * Justice we love, and next to justice peace." — George Edward Woodberry. 12 SONNETS *I am the death of Life, I am the Hfe of Death, I am War! I am the death of Joy. I am the joy of Death, I am War!'' -Alter Brody. 14 WAR Gigantic foe, whose armaments of steel Bray forth; a hon straining at his chain A demon in whose fever-maddened brain Are captive all the host of commonweal ; The millions who the woe and horror feel Of sabre thrust, the grief and biting pain, The sacrifice of sons who die in vain. The secrets of thy selfish soul reveal. Ah, what an end to gain and what a price Can peace prevail at such a bitter cost? Oh, spare the pangs and cast anew the dice Of horrid war; the day that's won or lost The evils to the end thereof suffice; Oh, save us, God, such needless holocaust ! 15 "Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peo- ples. . . . We have seen the last of neu- trality in such circumstances.'* — President Wilson, to Congress, April 2. 1917. 16 NEUTRALITY Neutrality ! when in the face of fate BelHgerents with overt acts conspire. Lay waste the land with battle's burning pyre; When jingoists on justice fair would prate On liberty and freedom of the state. Consumed by greed and passion's bitter ire, Insatiate with war and vain desire, Shall we still to the end impartial wait? The Lion rampant in his Island lair Is lifting loud his voice that war may cease. The Eagle's darkling wing a truce doth wear. The Tricolor would seek a glad release From wanton war; the face of the Great Bear Doth menace : hear, O Lord, our prayer for peace. 17 "Great God, whose path upon the deep Is still unknown, but who didst keep Thine ancient people, when the wind And Egypt followed fast behind: O hear us, when our prayer to thee Ascends for those we love at sea.*' — Stopford Augustus Brooke. **The freedom of the seas is the sine qua non of peace, equality and co-oper- ation." — President Wilson. 18 AT SEA As borne upon the iridescent waves. To muse unmoved by ship's accustomed toss Like steady rider on a dancing horse, To ride the billows, o'er their crests and caves Serene no matter how the wind behaves; To dream, as beats the winged albatross Upon the decks, and then to look across The sky and think of countless sunken graves Unmarked by cross, unkept by human hand; — To think where skirts the changing distant shore War reigns; while homeward where the hidden strand Uprises, there is peace : let us implore Dear God, may Thou at Thy supreme command Decree that this great sin shall be no more ! IS I must be cruel, only to be kind." — Hamlet, Act. Ill, Scene iv. 20 ANACHRONISM Across the skies where shone Hope's rising star 0*er loyal homes where innocence didst sleep. Where faithful mothers anxious vigil keep. The god of war has flung his shafts afar In blood has writ his black anathema. O'er land and sea his hostile armies sweep While heaven's hosts in tearful silence weep. And still uncrowned sits earth's New Avatar. O bitter thought that in the heaven high The sun of truth for which true martyrs bled, Once more must rise o'er land vv^here heroes die. While hopes of peace howe'er remote have fled; Great God! canst look with unrelenting eye. While man reverts to savage traits long dead? 21 "Belgium may be invaded. The Belgian people will never be con- quered nor crushed. The Belgian peo- ple cannot die. . . . Their soil, watered by the blood of millions of warriors, is the most fertile in Europe in the harvests of the soul." — Romain Rolland. 22 TO BELGIUM "omnium fortissimi sunt belgae'* Not strength in arms doth make thy nation great Thy greatness is in wealth of soul untold; Not all thy kings, from stalwart Leopold And William, silent, unintimidate. In pure descent to Albert called the Great; But fearless, with a courage dauntless, bold. With spirit imperturbable of old. Thy people constitute the perfect State. Renascent Belgium, from the black remains Of fallen cities, Ghent, Liege, Namur, A newer sun shall blot away thy stains; Thy country plundered, burned and pillaged sore. Thy works of art, and beautiful Louvain, From these grim ashes thou shalt rise once more. **Kings and empires die, great ideas, once they are born, can never die again." — H. G. Wells. 24 TO FRANCE Brave scions of an ancient heraldry. Land of the stalwart musketeer and lance For long enwrapt in medieval trance; But once from rule of Bourbon kings set free Thy loyalty has swept from sea to sea. Thy savants thy rich heritage enhance, O beauty-loving, freedom-breathing France, Undaunted in the cause of liberty. For every son that dies for freedom's sake Above the battle's black and bloody moil, For every noble pinioned at the stake. For every maid a servant of the soil, A freeman sheds his blood to life partake And blessed is to each his common toil. 25 'Who stands if England fall? Who dies if England live?'* — Rudyard Kipling. 'To our great kinsmen of the West, my friends. And the great name of England, round and round." — Tennyson. TO ENGLAND Thou England, mother of a stalwart race From out thine island womb in quick'ning birth To rule in distant corner of the earth, — America, thy child, whose form and grace Thy visage bears, thine upright stature, face; Though distant far, an alien from thy hearth And prodigal, we bring our dearest worth And at thy feet our loyalty we place. O parent country, noblest of the great. Land of the blooming hawthorn and the rose, A kingdom from an ancient feudal state; Land which the heart of true devotion knows Thy people for their true redemption wait. Upheld within the faith thy strength bestows. 27 'Do you not know that freedom is a noble and valuable thing?" — Epictetus. 28 POLAND TO S. de B. Kingdom with heart that dreams of noble things Land where a captive royal legion cries A country without bound save air and skies. Nation with deathless loyal voice that sings A state to which truth's sovereign aegis clings ; For every son that as an alien dies Above his mound shall three more faithful rise. Before the plain where sleep thy buried kings. Canst bind the prostrate Eagle where she lies Canst quench the flaming torch of liberty? Nay: Poland's flag shall sweep across the skies, Kosciusko's eye will flash with victory Again shall Sobieski's spirit rise. And then in thine own right shalt thou be free! 29 "The smile,'* they called her, — **La Sourire;" — Florence Earle Coates: The Smile of Reims. 30 REIMS Here rich, resplendent on its bright facade. Where stately kings and priests of high renown Once worshipped under sacerdotal gown. Where grinning gargoyles on its transept played And legion statues sat in pomp arrayed. From flying buttress o'er the quaint old town The sculptured Angel from her shrine looked down, — Here Saint Remi and pagan Clovis prayed. Now all is dust; where knelt Le Beau Dieu, Where flashed the sun on jeweled wall its gleams The smiling Angel weeps a bitter tear; A million shells have burst in shattered Reims, Seraphic is the face of "La Sourire,'* Within the magic city of our dreams. 31 "All wars end; even this war will some day end.** — John Masefield: The Old Front Line. THE OLD FRONT LINE Upon its stalk the gilded statue stands At Albert town upon the Old Front Line, The Virgin and the Child, before whose shrine The sad in Autumn's solitary bands Made Pilgrimage to touch the sacred hands. A passing shot has bent the form divine Till downward, mute, the pitying eyes incline. The Diving Angel thus the way commands. When will she fall? for then the war will end The word has gone; for those who know no creed But slavery and might and lust and greed. It matters not, for they in vain contend With spirit; but the right will right defend Till death, — *'they shall not pass*' it is decreed. 33 **No people can be bound to ac- knowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States." — Washington's First Inaugural Address, 1789. 34 WASHINGTON Acclaim him victor with the fronded palm, Upon whose brow the seal of state was set Within whose heart sits freedom throned yet; His country safe from tyrant and all harm, Immortal were his deeds; immortal charm The spell he cast; within his soul were met Soldier and gentleman: a nation's debt Upheld, upborn upon his mighty arm. Majestic leader, freeman to the core Across the flood, upon the bristling plain, Undauntedly the flag of truth he bore; In vassalage may alien ne'er again The nation bind, whose armor first he wore; His name we love, his glory ne'er shall wane. 35 **I believe that the true happiness of man consists in fulfiUing the will of God." — Count Leon Tolstoi. 36 TOLSTOI Great servant thou who sought thy brother, friend And kinship mid the humblest of birth. Thou peasant-prince, yet simple child of earth Who turned aside to duty's pathway wend. Whose vision saw God's purpose in each end The spirit's resurrection out of dearth; Thou elder brother of the pauper, serf. Noblesse oblige nobilities defend. Not Russia's savant but the world's thou art. Exponent of divine humanity. Thy friendly face illumines palace, mart; The herald of the truth that makes men free. Life's dire wrongs the sorrow of thy heart. Great prophet of the age that is to be. 37 'Honour has come back, as a king to earth, . . . And we have come into our heritage." — Rupert Brooke. — **In his young eyes a sudden glory shone: And I was dazzled by a sudden glow. And he was gone." — Wilfrid Wilson Gibson. 38 RUPERT BROOKE Fair son of England, of true British mood In whom the lamp of rising genius burned. For freedom thou hadst ever yearned, At peace or war, triumphant or subdued Thou rose but higher; if from lesser feud Life's greater lesson thou hadst never learned And hatred to a higher purpose turned. Then passion had thy gentle heart not wooed. What meaneth life, except the soul aspire To lofty heights, and climbing ever higher Mid yearning song and sorrow's sober sighing. At last to find amid its vainest crying What thou hath found, and cometh ever nigher The perfect peace thou findeth in the dying. 39 ''Vive rAmerique! Vive la France! Vive la — Vive la France T' — Percy Mackaye. 40 TO GREGORY America, in youth's magnificance. Thy sons embark upon the blood-stained wave. Fearless in face of death and nameless grave. Young, noble, true, daring the awful chance Of war, les braves, les Corps des Ambulances, Truest of true and bravest of the brave Not life to take but human life to save. For Papa Joffre, and fame. Somewhere in France! Strong stalwart son, may the rich gifts so free You give, thy faith so plenteous, so rare. Symbols of nation loving liberty. In every fortune that may fall to thee. Bring hope to those opprest, this be our prayer That God may keep thee safe from harm Out There. 41 "Aesculapius, son of Apollo. By his skill he restored the dead to life. His function was the art of healing." — Classic Myths of English Literature. 42 THE CADUCEUS Thou mystic wand of Aesculapius, Which upright on a golden distaff gleams; The emblem of the Priest and Medicus A magic power hath o'er sleep and dreams. The 'twined serpents and the winged rod The mace, the snake, thy sons' insignia ; The herald's staff, the sceptre of the god. Bright ensigns of the heavenly Messenger. The Serpent, sacred symbol of the truth. In ancient fane of Asclepiadae Its life renews personifying youth; Thus Wisdom clothes herself in deity. Grant us, O god whose charm the dead can raise, More skill to save, — and to thy name the praise. 43 "Thy country now is all humanity." — G. E. Woodberry: Edith Cavell. 44 THE RED CROSS A crimson Cross upon a field of white Emblem of truth and man's humanity Symbol of deathless love and loyalty; Where'er thy flag is raised in freedom's fight Whate'er the place, whate'er the time or plight, To friend or foe alike thy fealty Thy name the synonym of purity. Beneath thy banner right shall conquor might. Friend of the desolate and sore opprest. On field or wave where honor of the sea Is violate; against the bleeding breast Of dying heroes thy red seal is prest By some White Sister of sweet charity. Who thus upholds thy sacred chivalry. 45 'War is a violent trade.'* — Schiller. * 'There are no neutrals in this war. ... I have stood on Germany's side, I have walked in the valley of the shadow of neutrality, I have stood and now stand irrevocably with the cause of the Allies, which, thank God, is now the cause of America." — Hermann Hagedorn: Where Do You Stand? 46 TO HERMANN HAGEDORN Not yours in language obsolete to sing Of distant days in tongue of Celt or Greek, Of ancient scenes, when preying on the weak The strong survive, when emperor and king Their broken arms against time's bulwark fling. But yours the message of the strong though meek. To brothers who for each and all must speak, And to a world reborn allegiance bring. The borders of that fatherland which hurled Defiance to the earth cannot command The voices of those souls who thrilled the world To quietude. Lo! Schiller speaks, and grand The voice of Kant : the flag of peace unfurled Shall bear a sign all men can understand. 47 **I have gone sometimes by the gates of Death And stood beside the cavern through whose doors Enter the voyagers into the unseen." — Alan Seeger. 48 GONE EAST Into the Sunset's golden glow — gone West, Brave souls; from pain and battle din releast For them the awful wrack of war hath ceast — They sleep; yet at the purple dawn*s behest They rise to seek afar the soul's fair quest, Earth's wisdom gained, in heaven's sight increast. But some from out the West rose-hued go East Into the Morn, the lovliest and best. For East is West and West is East, afar Envisaged in the light eternal glow The crystal Sun's celestial rays which are Reflected in each form, through aeons flow. Beyond the blue there gleams a silver star Each voyager shall sense and glimpse and know. 49 'Lafayette, we are here.'* — General Pershing. *'What could be so incredible, as for a Roman knight to celebrate a second triumph . . .?" — Cicero. 50 LAFAYETTE Let us thy name, thine honor, ne'er forget The loyalty of thine oppressed state The simple token of thine high estate ; Thou, who, when fast the tide of battle set Against America, held firm: still yet For France a glorious liberty as great Shall come to pass ; for her a happy fate Vouchsafed by us who pay the priceless debt. We come to place a wreath upon thy bier, And homage pay to none more great save one, And he alone — our peerless Washington — From Cantigny, Chateau Thierry, La Fere To finish thy great task so well begun, A spirit moves, — Our hero, '*We are here!" 51 **The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act and serve together.'* — President Wilson, Message to the American People, April 15, 1917. 52 THE MEN WHO STAY AT HOME Prosaic souls, for them who stay at home A host of cares, a modicum of praise And just the round of solitary days; For them no Marne, no St. Mihiel, no Somme, But weeks of weary toil at plough or loom ; To keep alive tradition's sacred ways To keep the heart unsullied that still prays For peace, when restive spirit fain would roam. The call to arms means not the field for all The will to serve may bind the swiftest feet. While duties faithful done both great and small The fatal day and issue may defeat. And to the Victors and to those who fall May make the cost of sacrifice more sweet. 53 For such as this men die, nor hesitate." — Maxwell Struthers Burt: The Land. 54 VICTORY Defenders of the nation's faith all hail ! On distant sea or shore and far afield, Against the enemies of peace rough-steeled. You falter not; neath battle's brunt nor quail. Outnumbered oft, know not such word as fail. Beneath your thrusts the flagging foe must yield, Laon, Cambrai, Saint Quentin's bloody field, — Before such odds can right alone prevail. In foreign land, amid the toil and heat Of battle, as with strength of arms and speed The foe you hurl in rout and full retreat. When tide of war ebbs hot, if you who bleed But feel the flush of triumph more complete, — Then death itself were victory indeed! 55 "There shall be established a League of Nations, associated under specific covenants, which shall guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity of large and small nations alike, henceforth.'* — From America's Peace Terms, as out- lined by President Wilson. 56 TO GERMANY IN DEFEAT What profit thinkest thou to still contend In bitter conflict for false ends begun. Dost cherish still a place within the Sun? Why longer with thy weakened arms pretend To dictate to those forces which defend The rights of man; the spirit of the Hun Must first be vanquished e'er the cause be won, E'er thou again deserve the name of friend. Canst hope the hand of unrelenting fate Which sets its tragic seal upon the scroll Of time, will blot aWay the bloody toll. The awful sins of thy despotic hate. If thou build not an Independant State; — What profiteth, except to save thy soul? 57 "Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle flags were furl'd In the Parliament of Man, the Federa- tion of the World.'* — Tennyson. 'And in a league of Peace — God grant we may — Transform the earth, not patch up the old plan.'* — Robert Bridges. "America is thinking beyond wars." — H. G. Wells. 58 OUR COUNTRY Our country is the world, and day and night America in loyalty to thee. To those at home and those across the sea. Wherever war has left its awful blight Where'er thy sons 'neath freedom's banner fight. Our hearts we pledge to man's democracy Our souls we pledge to God*s theocracy. Till right hath triumphed o'er inglorious might. Where liberty is not, to make men free Our lives we give, our fortunes, and afar Thy legions flung to lands beyond the sea. Amid the darkling clouds of war thy star Shall light the shining path to victory. One country and one world, America! 59 **I know that He will come for me to-morrow.'* — From "The Comrade in White." 60 THE PERFECT WAY What miracle, amid the throes of war When hostile armies clash in battle peal As votaries before the gods of steel, Where cruel cold and hungry vultures claw And nations each another's vitals gnaw; As rising from the altars where they kneel. And seeing could but fathom what they feel. Would not each soul transfixed be in awe? If from the Cross whereon He lowly hung The bleeding Christ amid the hell be flung. Before the foe all naked midst the fray; Would not each host its silent arms reverse Would not a prayer ring out for every curse. And peace not war become the perfect way? 61 "Make no more giants, God, But elevate the race at once!'* — Browning's Paracelsus. 'How will it seem when Peace comes back once more, After these desperate days of shattering pain?" — Charles Hanson Towne: How Will It Seem. THE COMING RACE What promise hath the future for the race What balm to soothe the troubles of this age, Will history but turn another page Red-hued, which time alone can scarce erase? Or will the patient years the scars efface. The child of earth attain his heritage The mediocre man become the sage, And each his brother welcome face to face? Above the battle's din, beyond all wars The stricken cries of souls in slavery Arise; and loud and clear the one pure cause Of freedom and the rights of liberty: Grant us, O God, a brotherhood of laws. Where men unite to serve humanity. 63 PRODUCED BY GURREY'S. LTD., HONOLULU