Appreciation 
 
 ELOISE COOPER FOWLER 
 
Convri^htF ^^ f^ 
 
 CCEffilGHT DEPOSm 
 
Verses of Love, Faith and Appreciation 
 
Verses 
 
 of 
 
 Love, Faith aad Appreciation 
 
 By 
 ELOISE COOPER FOWLER. 
 
 BOSTON 
 THE ROXBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 
 
^^y 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 NOV 17 liiB 
 
 ©CI.A535744 
 
Copyrighted 1919 
 
 By Eloise Cooper Fowler. 
 
 Rights Reserved. 
 
DEDICATED TO 
 
 My Angel-Mother, — whose loving spirit 
 has hovered near me and helped and in- 
 spired me in my work. 
 
 Before passing on, she prophesied that 
 America would be brought into the now 
 world-war, and ever prayed that our 
 President would be strengthened by trust 
 in God. And I feel that she has taken her 
 prayers before the throne of God. 
 
 She loved her country well, and I feel 
 that in some of the verses I have written 
 I have fulfilled her desire — and God's. 
 
PRAYER BELLS ARE CALLING 
 
 Hark to the sound! 
 There's a call to us all! 
 
 As ring the prayer bells 
 At noon and at night: 
 
 Hark to the sound ! 
 Let hammer and broom fall! 
 
 Haste to answer the appeal of the bells, 
 E'er the dedicated time takes flight. 
 
 i 
 
 Hark to the sound! 
 The bells calling to prayer! 
 
 Calling to all to pray with unstinting 
 ration 
 For victory and peace in God's good time: 
 
 Hark to the sound! 
 Pray for our soldiers Over There; 
 
 For our President and for our nation, 
 And pray that Hun cruelty shall cease and 
 Kaiseric crime. 
 
10 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 A PRAYER LETTER 
 
 My angel-mother, you can look down and 
 
 see 
 
 Satan's archangel on this earth stalking; 
 
 You can his devilish imps see 
 On this land of our birth walking, 
 
 Doing the archangel's death-dealing will, 
 Obeying him with science, with skill. 
 
 You can see our country is, so to speak, 
 a honeycomb ; 
 The spaces are filled by the archangel's 
 imps, 
 
 Who are paid by him to sting our coun- 
 try with many a bomb — 
 The treacherous, mean, hateful pimps ! 
 
 Our country! that perhaps gave them 
 birth. 
 That welcomed them on our loved earth, 
 
 That long did them nourish. 
 Whose people have greatly helped them, 
 
 Have been their friends, have even loved 
 them, 
 And have seen them flourish 
 
 With no jealous eye — 
 Without a thought they'd treachery try; 
 
 Have watched them gather in the honey 
 Without a pang, without even a ''go-hang.'* 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 11 
 
 Without a thought they were Germans 
 whose money 
 Made here, in America, would go to the old 
 country 
 To be banked and later would cross the 
 main 
 Once more — back here to be used against 
 the land 
 In whose bosom they had so safely lain. 
 Protected by America's laws, shielded by 
 her great hand, H 
 
 They were from aught that would them 
 harm ; 
 But they forgot all her benefits when 
 Kaiser W. gave his alarm. 
 He bade them form a society 
 Whose members were to spy out the land 
 That had made them rich, had given 
 them such a glad hand. 
 
 My angel-mother, loving only Germany, 
 And Satan's archangel, their Kaiser, 
 
 The members of this society 
 Have indeed made him wiser 
 
 As to a number of things — 
 Things we would have kept from such a 
 devil. 
 
12 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 But you can see (you who hover with 
 angel wings 
 Over me) that some imps have been caught 
 and kept from further evil, 
 And have been punished; others have 
 been punished, too, 
 (As of course they should be who would to 
 death our country woo), 
 For intent to blow up factories, bridges, 
 to destroy wheat, 
 Wheat that is so needed by those who do 
 not live to eat. 
 But who live to serve our country — 
 Some who live to die for her dear sake. 
 Oh, I pray that you who are near Jesus, 
 so dear. 
 Will ask Him with God, intercession to 
 make 
 That He will ever guide and help and 
 keep 
 The men who run such great riteks, but who 
 know not fear — 
 Our United States Secret Service men! 
 the many tomes 
 One could write about them, if that one 
 knew all ! 
 How watchful our Secret Service men 
 must be of the devil-gnomes 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 13 
 
 That fly to the archangel's imps to tell them 
 all 
 They ferret out about certain transports, 
 even learn when they will sail ! 
 The imps tell brother-imps when to be 
 ready to blow a transport up ; 
 And when the brother-imps are successful 
 how bitter is the cup 
 Those devils give many women, to drink — 
 who are left to wail 
 For their men-folks, their dear men-folks; 
 their brothers, 
 Their husbands, their sons, their lovers, — 
 Who are in this world forever lost to 
 them. 
 How the devil-imps work! How they toil! 
 To make some of these women wish they 
 had never been mothers ! 
 Some of the men sink to a watery grave, 
 Some are found and buried in foreign 
 soil, 
 Where their women-folks cannot go as to 
 do they so crave. 
 May God comfort them. 
 
 Dear angel-mother, I pray that Jesus will 
 intercession make, 
 
14 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 With His Father, that our brave Secret 
 Service men may henceforth ever ap- 
 prehend in time 
 Those who dare commit against man- 
 kind any terrible crime: 
 (One of the worst is to blow up a hospital 
 
 ship, 
 And they delight in pieces one to rip) ; 
 The devils who work against our country- 
 all 
 Who would harm her. They work 
 against our allied countries, too, 
 Whose soldiers (as do ours) stand at arms 
 to fight, and some to fall, 
 For our sake as well as their own, who 
 true 
 To one and true to all, do fight 
 
 For home and country, freedom and 
 democracy, for the Right. 
 Satan's archangel makes his soldiers fight 
 against the good things 
 We, and allies, fight for : How treacher- 
 ously his soldiers fight! 
 How loud with cheers his carrying voice 
 rings 
 Out when his soldiers a small victory 
 gain 
 Over our dear good soldiers fighting for 
 the RIGHT!— 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 15 
 
 On whom death-dealing shrapnel falls 
 like rain, 
 Who bravely die when die they must 
 
 Looking- to God in whom they trust, 
 Knowing that others will CARRY ON; 
 will win 
 At last, the great decisive victory over 
 Kaiseric sin. 
 
 m 
 
 A TOAST 
 
 Here's to our Secret Service men: Long 
 lives to them! 
 
 Here's to our allies' Secret Service men: 
 Long lives to them ! 
 
 All are of like caliber, I ween, true steel, 
 
 Can't be bribed nor brow-beaten, but for 
 woe for weal 
 
 Throw heart and mind into their great 
 work; 
 
 Work that perhaps is a mystery to many 
 who lurk 
 
 In mind on the outside of things in under- 
 standing all 
 
16 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Our country is up against, though glad she 
 
 threw off the thrall 
 Of evil advisers v^ho sought but to gain 
 
 her side 
 To cut into our political party an entrance 
 
 wide — 
 For Germany's good and our undoing — 
 Who ever secretly went about Hun-wooing, 
 And who were caught by our Secret Service 
 
 men so true, 
 And by our government sent back to 
 
 Germany looking so blue ! 
 
 Our Secret Service men will guarantee 
 
 those Hun-wooers never will get 
 
 back 
 To our dear country — they who cried: 
 
 "Alas and alack ! 
 We poor simps indeed met our match 
 In United States Secret Service men, and 
 
 we'll lift the latch 
 Of America's Open Door never again. 
 
 Never again 
 Can we taste of her hospitality! Ever 
 
 strain, ever strain 
 As we may she will never again believe us, 
 She will never again receive us; 
 And we're almost sorry for our ill-deeds, 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 17 
 
 For though we've gained prestige in Ger- 
 many, we're more hateful than stink- 
 weeds* 
 
 To our former friends in America, whom we 
 did quite love. 
 
 And who liked us, though they scorn us now 
 and feel quite above 
 
 Us. Yes, we know that even the poorest 
 American patriots born 
 
 Hate us, and would spit upon us in their 
 scorn." 
 
 Here's to our Secret Service men: Long 
 
 lives to them ! 
 Here's to our allies' Secret Service men: 
 
 Long lives to them ! 
 Here's to their sweethearts: Long lives to 
 
 them! 
 Here's to their mothers : Long lives to them! 
 Here's to their wives : Long lives to them ! 
 Drink to their women-folks because these 
 
 women, from worry, lose their sleep, 
 And from their weary eyes troubled tears 
 
 they weep ; 
 Their men-folks' positions are to them a 
 
 mystery . . . 
 But it would never do for them to know 
 
 Secret Service secrets. History 
 Might read differently if they did! — 
 
18 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 So all Secret Service secrets must be kept 
 
 hid; 
 And let us pray, while we drink, 
 That these women may never think 
 Their men may be doing wrong. May a 
 
 God-given light 
 Shine into their minds, encouraging with its 
 
 sight, 
 Making them believe that all is well, and 
 
 right. 
 
 * Perhaps I malign "stink-weeds/" There 
 is surely some good in them — th-'^y when 
 prepared for (and bound on) a Spain help 
 greatly to cure it. 
 
 A SABBATH MORNING IN SUMMER 
 OF 1918 
 
 Never had I seen such a lovely Sabbath 
 
 morning! and I believe 
 My soul, while thrilling, was waiting to 
 
 receive 
 A message from its Maker that would help 
 
 to retrieve 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 19 
 
 A world at war ! Oh, but 'twas hard to feel 
 The world was at war! and I had to think 
 
 a g-reat deal 
 Before I could say there was in it any weal. 
 One great thing I knew it had done — 
 It had made many better; nearly everyone 
 Finer, because of the need to sacrifice 
 For the benefit of others, of the need of true 
 
 service. 
 And most of the world had been made over 
 
 almost in a trice ! . . . 
 
 A gentle, but cool and delightful breeze 
 
 Fanned into motion the bright green leaves 
 
 Of all the oak and orchard trees, 
 
 And made them whisper, in counsel wise, 
 
 Of things of which I could only surmise, 
 
 But as to understand one ever tries, 
 
 I tried, and I thought they whispered of 
 
 rain — 
 Not once but again and again, 
 And the thought brought to my heart — not 
 
 pain — 
 Joy ; for rain was needed that very day. 
 And for it we had felt we must pray — 
 That during waking hours our beseeching 
 
 voices should not stay. 
 
20 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Bees buzzed happily, in labor golden, 
 
 among the flowers 
 Not to them was it given to know as to 
 
 hearts of ours 
 That rain was sorely needed for our oat 
 
 crop, 
 Which must not fail that more wheat, to 
 
 help soldiers go Over the Top. 
 Could be sent OVER THERE— where in 
 
 battle our soldiers (and allies) 
 
 couldn't stop . . . 
 For the Huns must be defeated . . . 
 
 How welcome would be the first 
 
 rain-drop ! 
 Telling of more and more 
 Raindrops to follow, and more and more, 
 That would be more welcome than any had 
 
 ever been before. 
 For America was slated to feed the world. 
 Except the enemy part that had hurled 
 Nearly every Christian nation into war, 
 
 caused their flags to be unfurled 
 On gruesome, bloody battlefields. 
 That once were green or golden with 
 
 harvest yields. 
 
 Butterflies flaunted their yellow, brown, 
 black and white beauty 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 21 
 
 Under God's deep bue sky, and they spoke 
 
 of the duty 
 Of the caterpillar, which, if it leaves its 
 
 cocoon 
 Before its time, — too soon — 
 Develops no flying soul, with beauty to 
 
 inspire a rune 
 
 But exists as a crippled insect wandering- in 
 
 pain 
 Longing, ever longing, for a soul in vain. 
 Will "Kaiser W." be like that insect? No; 
 
 for he has a soul that for all the slain 
 Of the world-war will have to account: On 
 
 him lies all the blame! 
 Ah, what a stain upon his name ! 
 
 Male birds trilled happily, each to his mate ; 
 They held counsel, too, to determine the 
 
 training of their sedate 
 Young! 'Twould not do to put off that 
 
 training till too late ! 
 Neither v^ill it do to put off the training 
 Of human young too long, within their souls 
 
 engraining 
 Truth and honesty; upon their minds 
 
 raining 
 Words of splendid counsel, words of faith 
 
 in God, 
 
22 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 To Whom should thanks be given for sus- 
 tenance from the sod — 
 
 To Whom we should ever pray, at dawn and 
 before at night we nod. 
 
 Children tripped along the country street 
 On their way to Sunday School, to meet 
 In the classroom, and their teachers to 
 
 greet. 
 Their faces so bright and shining! 
 The girls' souls in innocence inclining 
 Toward the opposite sex ; but not like vines 
 
 entwining 
 As the souls of the lover and his sweet- 
 heart, on their way (not with the 
 
 rest) 
 From church to look at their newly finished 
 
 nest, 
 (Whose souls that night the parson did 
 
 make one, 
 After his preaching was over and praying 
 
 done.) 
 
 With a wireless 'phone to my ear, I heard 
 the parson of the church upon tht 
 hill 
 
 Preach his morning sermon telling of 
 God's Will. 
 
 And he spoke of the war waging still. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 2?- 
 
 I felt I was in the church and I realized,. 
 
 indeed, 
 That the world is at war, and the need 
 To pray for our soldiers and our allies' vi'hcy 
 
 for us bleed. 
 
 Was brought home to me with force; 
 Praying for rain was a secondary matter. 
 
 My mind did endorse 
 All that the preacher said. . . . 
 God would see that our world was fed, 
 Because (and even on that Sabbath Day) 
 
 our soldiers were fighting, 
 The wrongs of others righting. 
 The Christ's Holy Sword were sighting 
 And to the children the preacher counsel did 
 
 give 
 That in their memories long will live. 
 
 I turned again to the scene outside, not 
 
 fully sensing 
 The beauty about me ; my thoughts tensing 
 On only the world at war; my spirit 
 
 wrenching 
 Away at its ties, longing to be Over There, 
 Longing with agonized longing to help — 
 
 not here where 
 Duty for such as I lies, but there in the 
 
 wear and tear 
 
54 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Of war. I had to school myself severely 
 To bring into submission my rebellious 
 
 heart — for merely 
 To say to myself you are doing 3^our best 
 
 here wasn't enough. Drear'ly 
 My spirits slumped. A robin called ''Cheer! 
 
 Cheer! Cheer!" 
 To me.. His chirping irritated me. "Cheer! 
 
 Cheer! Cheer!" 
 I mocked him. . . . Then I heard a 
 
 pe-wee poignantly calling *'Phoe be, 
 
 Phoe be, Phoe be, Phoe be, Phoe E 
 
 be," 
 And I knew why I felt so sad that even the 
 
 tit mice's ''chickadee chickadee," 
 Could not rouse my drooping spirits 
 Nay, I felt I could hardly bear its 
 Cheerfulness, though I admired it for its 
 
 zeal; 
 For it no woe existed, only weal. . . , 
 
 Oh, the irony of it ! though rain was surely 
 coming 
 
 Just as surely as soldier-bands were drum- 
 ming, 
 
 And I should rejoice in answered prayer, 
 
 I was depressed ! Because the sun seemed 
 not anywhere 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 25 
 
 That through the morning shone with 
 
 bare- 
 Faced joy upon the land, or in benediction 
 Wise, and knowing that soon he'd hide, in 
 
 friction 
 With the elements. Oh, I questioned (Yet 
 
 I knew) why? 
 Why? Why? And yet again — why? 
 
 Such is the effect of cloudy weather upon 
 
 one's spirits, let one's will try- 
 As hard as it may it won't conquer till, by 
 
 and by. 
 The sun shines again upon the land : 
 My will took my spirit severely in hand, 
 And caused me to thank God 
 For His sure promise of rain upon the dry 
 
 sod. 
 But my depression remained, and my sad 
 Thoughts were OVER THERE. Yet 
 
 when rain came I was glad. 
 I thought: If it is raining OVER THERE, 
 It may be helping our soldiers (by hinder- 
 ing the Boche). Oh, answered 
 Prayer ! 
 That broug:ht the revivine rain ! 
 That saved the oats — the king-grain ! 
 Oh, beneficent sun, when in joy it shone 
 again ! 
 
26 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Oh, when the sun shines upon a world at 
 peace, 
 
 To our spirits will come such glad release, 
 
 To our hearts such joy they'll almost cease 
 
 To beat! May God help us to bear our 
 future joy 
 
 As well as our present sorrow, nor the alloy 
 
 Of his chastening entirely withold — for 
 we'll need it to temper our joy. 
 
 And let us pray that we will never slight 
 Him again, 
 
 As we did before war brought the unfor- 
 gettable pain 
 
 To our souls. He will ever reign 
 
 The same High Judiciary Power : Godhead ! 
 
 Judging the quick and the dead. 
 
 Loving not best those who believe in 
 MIGHT— instead 
 
 Loving best those who believe in RIGHT. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 27 
 
 NIL DESPERANDUM (NEVER 
 DESPAIR) 
 
 Never despair ! though often sad and dreary ! 
 Never despair! though often more than 
 
 w^eary 
 In v^ell doing, in good deeds; 
 For you will find help for all your needs 
 If you seek it from on High : 
 God is there watching over you ; By 
 His Power alone can comfort come : 
 He watches over the birds and hears the 
 
 bees hum. 
 Think you He will ever forget man — 
 His especial care since time began? 
 
 Of course not, you answer: Then never 
 
 despair! 
 For many despairings are to your Father 
 
 as the blare 
 Of trumpets to sore ears ; 
 But He is glad when alleluias He hears, 
 So turn your words of despair — before their 
 
 uttering — 
 
28 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Into alleluias. Cease your muttering 
 Over hard times, and (apparently) harder 
 
 hearts ; 
 Make your armor impervious to suspicious 
 
 darts. 
 Say and believe there is good in every mind, 
 And if you search for it, it you'll surely find. 
 
 Nil Desperandum (never despair) ! 
 Even so little a thing as dull care 
 Never was removed that v^ay, 
 Nor will it be on any coming day! 
 Despair hurts heart, nerves and mind, 
 So be cheerful, however hard to be ; you'll 
 
 find 
 It'll pay. Never despair! never lose faith 
 
 in God ; 
 His far-reaching, chastening rod 
 Is laid upon those He loves most. 
 And He will never desert His Post. 
 
 Nil Desperandum (never despair) ! is this 
 
 1918 year 
 Particularly applicable. We need cheer 
 Now as we never needed it before. 
 And we'll need it more and more; 
 For we are at war. . . . 
 Don't let despair be a bar 
 To our winning it; 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 29 
 
 Add to your ALL and your Bit 
 
 By knocking out "giant despair" with the 
 
 bomb of cheer: 
 Make the bomb full of smiles and scatter 
 
 them far and near. 
 
 'Let your cheer go deep into soul and 
 
 heart ! 
 Let a good, smiling, invigorating part 
 Emanate to others. — Let it go forth 
 To them to prove your true worth! 
 Nil Desperandum (never despair) ! 
 Be cheerful! — a smile ever wear! 
 Cast off the "long, solemn face" — 
 Such before God or man will not find grace! 
 God likes the beautiful, heroic smile. 
 And before man, too, 'tis well worth while. 
 
 TO AMERICAN WOMEN 
 
 From the men who have their life-blood 
 
 bled 
 For you, and for whom you in return have 
 
 shed 
 Mournful tears of anguish, sorrowing tears 
 
 of pain, 
 
30 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 There's a trumpet call comes again, 
 That if you would once more go singing 
 You must heed this call ringing, — 
 Rinigng loudly, clearly : Buy Liberty Bonds. 
 Buy; then just as free as graceful fronds, 
 In breezes waving, on the wild fern tree 
 You will, before long, forever and for- 
 ever be. 
 
 Freedom, rare 'spiritual flame, bids you rise 
 And wipe the sad, sad tears from your eyes. 
 Freedom bids you heart's-ease gain 
 By saving, and saving, — both alone and in 
 
 twain 
 With another you have persuaded to find 
 That by saving, and saving, her heart and 
 
 mind 
 Is eased; and that the future looks better, 
 
 too; 
 And she can one day go singing with you, 
 And be as free as any frond on the wild- 
 fern tree. 
 Because she's saved for a Bond for Dear 
 Liberty. 
 
 Perhaps a sister-woman would like to buy 
 A house; she can, in time, if she will try 
 Hard to save for Liberty Bonds so precious ; 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 31 
 
 And it's according to how much she saves 
 
 how spacious, 
 How large, her house will be: That is, it's 
 
 according 
 To how many Bonds she signs up for 
 
 today. 
 It's exciting, indeed to some — this hoarding 
 Of change, that used to go one hardly 
 
 knows where, so one can pay. 
 On the installment plan, for a Bond or two, 
 
 Or even three Bonds. 
 A woman ''handling" a $1,500.00 income 
 
 can, by using fairy wands 
 Of Economics pay for at least five One 
 
 Hundred dollar ones in one year. 
 If a woman who has hardly any income can 
 
 pay for one. Peer 
 Among savers each American Woman 
 
 should try to be. 
 So she can help her country and herself by 
 
 buying Bonds of Liberty. 
 
 How unpatriotic it looks, how it makes it 
 
 start the tear 
 Of vexation! that there's many a woman 
 
 who holds her husband dear, 
 And wants to make a real home for him and 
 
 herself, 
 
32 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Who won't let him (and won't herself) sign 
 
 for even one Bond ! On an unused 
 
 shelf 
 She places Liberty Bond literature, and for- 
 gets it. 
 She says, defiantly, that he and she have 
 
 done their ''Bit" 
 By knitting for the Red Cross, by joininglt 
 
 last year, 
 By the few dollars they have given to it this 
 
 year. 
 Do the women who do only their "Bit" not 
 
 love their country? 
 It looks as if they do not, however, it may 
 
 really be. 
 They had better sign now, for it doesn't pay 
 
 to be wary 
 On the Liberty Bond deal ; for wariness 
 
 hurts only 
 The ones wary. They had better sign now 
 
 for all they can carry, 
 On the installment plan. Why ! they can use 
 
 the money 
 They now use for candy, sodas and cakes 
 
 that taste like honey; 
 They don't need these luxuries, three, 
 Nor rich puddings and heavy meats — they 
 
 can cut out these "eats:" 
 
VERSES OF T.OVE 33 
 
 They should show they're patriotic by buy- 
 ing Bonds of Liberty. 
 
 If you and you and you (every you) don't 
 
 buy Bonds of Liberty, 
 The Kaiser (The Beast) may rule this land 
 
 so dear, so free. 
 
 And your passion for freedom be con- 
 strained — 
 
 You and yours forever and ever be trained 
 To repress all free speech from Right 
 thinking, 
 
 And all your dear liberties be but memories 
 
 yes, unwinking 
 The Kaiser may stare into your eyes as if 
 
 he'd like to shrivel your soul; 
 His heart is harder than hardened Pharaoh's 
 
 of old. Oh, remember Toul ! 
 (Many a woman's best loved one was there.) 
 
 How brave were our good soldiers ! 
 How treacherous the Boches ! (The 
 
 Boches ill-deserve the name of sol- 
 diers.) 
 ^o long as tkere is a peopled world, aiid 
 
 read is history, 
 It will be told how the Boche fought at 
 
 Toul, and elsewhere, treacherously. 
 
34 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Oh, lover of Freedom! if you would keep 
 
 free, 
 Buy another Bond for Sweet Liberty ! 
 
 You don't want to he ruled as Germany's 
 
 ruled today, 
 There the vote of the Kaiser is supreme — < 
 
 he says obey, 
 And preachers preach as he says preach. 
 The to-be-obeyed voice of this Satanic 
 
 Majesty doth reach 
 Professors, and as he commands they pre- 
 sent and propound, 
 And it reaches editors and tells them whal 
 
 note to sound. 
 This mad Kaiser is the state in Germany— 
 
 the State! 
 He even tells the citizen to take a second 
 
 mate! 
 Ye Gods . . . ! a man must support two 
 
 wives 
 And their children — dependent on one man 
 
 mayhap twenty lives! 
 That is, if he recognizes the dependency 
 And does not force wives to his supporting- ; 
 But in Germany certain men are upheld 
 In laziness and do only the courting 
 Such men's strength, it seems. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 35 
 
 Must be saved to help out the Kaiser. 
 O! Women of America, do you not want 
 To make these German women wiser? 
 You and yours will buy America's Liberty 
 
 Bonds, 
 Rather than (perhaps) be held in Germany's 
 
 Slavish Bonds. 
 
 You know the Kaiser and his wolfhuns like 
 blood pudding, and if they use the oil 
 
 Refined from body-fat of slain soldiers, 
 they'll probably boil 
 
 The blood of murdered (by them) Ameri- 
 cans — if they get a chance, 
 
 Now that pigs are scarce. You know what 
 he ordered done in France 
 
 And in Belgium? Yes. Well, he's said, 
 and maybe you know 
 
 That he's said, he'll do worse in America: 
 That blow, 
 
 That terrible (possible) devastation, de- 
 spoilation, asphyxiation, 
 
 Outraging of girls and women— their cruci- 
 fixion, 
 
 You can prevent if you'll heed the trumpet 
 
 calling 
 To buy Liberty Bonds, — you can keep 
 America from the Kaiser's mauling. 
 
36 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 You and you and you (every you) 
 Buy; to yourselves be true. 
 
 No, you don't want the Kaiser to rule 
 In America; every American will be like a 
 
 mule 
 And kick away each Kaiser-bought-body- 
 
 and-soul man 
 To Kingdom come — before he gets a chance 
 
 on our own Ian' 
 To set a profaning foot. As sure as sets the 
 
 sun, 
 The shameless, frightful, mad-beast look of 
 
 a Hun 
 Is enough ; it makes one's blood to curdle, 
 And you don't want to have to jump the 
 
 hurdle 
 For his sport ; and then crucified be, 
 (While he laughs in glee 
 At your agony.) 
 You won't so sufifer if you'll buy Bonds of 
 
 Liberty. 
 
 Do you realize that, like huddled sheep be- 
 fore their slaughter. 
 
 The women of France, Poland and Belgium 
 (How dear dvery daughter !) 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 37 
 
 Have felt the cruel hand of the raping Hun? 
 Every rising and every setting sun 
 Has rose and set on their despair ; 
 For the Hun ! the Hun ! he left his lair ! 
 The Kaiser routed him out, we know, 
 But the Hun was willing — yes, glad to go; 
 For he'd been trained for that purpose, and 
 
 made proud and ever 
 Looked upon his poor civilian brother with 
 
 a sneer — and never 
 Gave him a helping hand, (even tried to 
 
 push him into the gfutter) 
 He felt so superior, the soldier-Hun ; now 
 
 the poor civilian provides his bread 
 
 and butter. . 
 
 The civilian eats' bread made mostly of saw- 
 dust. 
 While the soldier-Hun goes satisfying his 
 
 biood lust, 
 The civilian doesn't quite understand 
 What the soldier-Hun is fighting for, the 
 
 Kaiser says land, 
 Land that will the crowded civilian help— < 
 If the civilan needs land, in Germany, 
 It can be bought by other means than war, 
 less dearlv. 
 
38 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 But the soldier-Hun is looking for his own 
 
 reward ; hear him yelp 
 As he goes pillaging. . . . We will his 
 
 victims help — 
 And he won't get land this time, 
 Because the unholy war he's fighting is a 
 
 crime 
 Against all that God-fearing people hold 
 
 sacred — against humanity • 
 And because Americans are backing up 
 
 their soldiers by buying Bonds of 
 
 Liberty. 
 It may seem as if he had got some coveted 
 
 land, 
 With Belgium occupied and Serbia stolen, 
 
 and 
 A part of Russia stolen also — (poor Russia, 
 
 revolution-torn ; 
 It seems as if pity for her should be in 
 
 the heart of the hardest hearted man 
 
 ever born), 
 But American soldiers will help recover 
 
 these lands, if backed by you 
 And will keep America free, free to wave 
 
 the Red, White and Blue.. 
 
 How the ruin in Belgium, the massacres in 
 Armenia, tears the heart — 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 39 
 
 And poor Syria and Serbia, and Northern 
 
 Italy, and France in part. 
 So woefully hurt! It not only tears th'J 
 
 heart, but makes the weakest long to 
 
 fight- 
 To fight the Hun. Poland was gone over 
 
 seven times. Can such war be right? 
 No! And think of the raping of women 
 
 in each country done ! 
 Five hundred thousand Polish girls rue the 
 
 day they first saw the evil-minded 
 
 Hun— 
 The beastly, lustful, German Hun — 
 That in form of soldi^s, while laughing, 
 
 made them run; 
 Then caught them and spoiled them, and 
 
 made them wander 
 Up and down their stricken land in bewil- 
 dered horror. . . . They did 
 
 ponder 
 Over and over the past: What had they 
 
 ever done such a fate 
 To deserve? Such agony theirs! They 
 
 feel spoiled for a true mate. 
 God gave them hope to struggle on. Hope! 
 The Huns had taken both honor and food. 
 
 Is it beyond the scope 
 
40 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Of your understanding how the despairing 
 
 daughters 
 Of Poland, as they wandered, on roots sub- 
 sisted then? — and for drink bitter 
 
 waters ? 
 It is not. And you'll buy another Bond 
 
 for Loved Liberty, 
 One more than you thought you could buy, 
 Lest our own America stricken be. 
 Oh you can do it if you try ! 
 
 It is not. You do understand, and for 
 stricken Poland you feel,— 
 
 As well as for ruined Belgium, decimated 
 France, and all countries the heel 
 
 Of the Beast has ground down. How you 
 hate it! — 
 
 You who always feel for oppressed human- 
 ity. And you'll no longer do just 
 your bit — 
 
 You'll do your all, so it can't grind them 
 down again 
 
 At some future time, after friendly nations 
 may have sent (almost) like rain 
 
 Money to help relieve them, and their lands 
 restore, 
 
 To a beauty almost as blooming as 
 before. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 41 
 
 And so it can't grind down your own dear 
 nation ; 
 
 Yes, you'll do your all, and help save your 
 sisters and yourself from spoilation. 
 
 And that your children and children's chil- 
 dren may always be 
 
 Americans, you'll buy them a Bond of 
 Loved Liberty. 
 
 You'll buy Bonds of Liberty; you'll buy 
 
 them now, 
 Each one bought makes the Kaiser wince 
 
 and cry *Wow" ! 
 Though he pretends he doesn't much care, 
 He really gets a great, big scare 
 Every time America a successful Liberty 
 
 Loan doth float, 
 Because it tells him all Americans sail in 
 
 the same boat. 
 And he knows that when a nation's people- 
 like loyal brother to loyal brother- 
 Stand loyally by their President, and by 
 
 one another. 
 That nation will win any just war her sol- 
 diers fight- 
 Fight for Liberty, for Peace, for Democ- 
 racy, for the Right. 
 
42 VERSES OF lOVE 
 
 (You will do your loyal bes') 
 To make this Liberty Loan a grand 
 success.) 
 
 Some say the Hun is what the Kaiser has 
 
 made him. 
 We know that he, the Kaiser, has turned 
 
 his soldiers — and all for a whim 
 For world-power — into beasts to prowl like 
 
 wolves- upon human prey, 
 To do everything bad their mad master to 
 
 obey ; 
 And we blame him most, but can find for 
 
 the Hun no excuse. 
 There's no one has the right to order such 
 
 abuse 
 Of innocent children and virtuous women, 
 
 of old men, feeble and gray, 
 As the Kaiser has upheld the Hun in. No! 
 
 to obey suits the Hun, I say. 
 And they who pity none must no pity re- 
 ceive. We must not even stop to 
 
 pray for the soul of the Hun ; 
 For we're in this war to win it — it must be 
 
 won, 
 For we're in this war to win it — and it will 
 
 be won, 
 If you buy Liberty Bonds ; each one bought 
 
 is as good as a gun. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 43 
 
 A SOLDIER OF THE SOIL TURNED 
 INTO A SOLDIER OF BLOOD 
 
 I was a good soldier of the soil, 
 
 I made myself used to constant toil, 
 
 I wanted to help the war to win — 
 
 Not to save my own tough skin. 
 
 I planted a whole square mile of wheat, 
 
 Because it would (in time) make bread for 
 
 soldiers to eat. 
 I worked and worked with all my might. 
 And in due time was rewarded by the love- 
 liest sight 
 I ever had seen in all my life. 
 Exultantly I cried : This will help in the 
 
 strife 
 In starving, fighting lands ! Oh, I was glad ! 
 Then came the drought, and I was nearly 
 
 mad 
 Before it ended. . . . But end it did, 
 And a great wheat dealer offered me a bid 
 Which I accepted gladly — and thanked God 
 
 again and again 
 That He had answered my prayer for rain. 
 
44 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 I was there in my great wheat field 
 When the rain came, and I thought not oi 
 
 shield 
 From its downpouring because I was warm 
 In spirit. ... I stretched out my 
 
 strong right arm 
 With cupped hand and gathered in many a 
 
 rain-drop 
 And kissed them, and again prayed for the 
 
 rain not to stop 
 Till a-plenty had fallen — not forgetting 
 To say : Dear God, not my will but Thine, 
 
 for further wetting, 
 Be done. . . . 
 
 And I was a happy youth (almost a man— 
 I'll soon be twenty-one), 
 Before harvesting in many sections began. 
 My wheat was later than that of many, 
 Because for a time it had had of rain-fall 
 
 hardly any — 
 Till the deluge (as it were) came to atone 
 For the time my wheat was left dry (and 
 
 I to groan). 
 
 But my day to harvest came at last, 
 And I forgot the hard-waiting past. 
 But just — just — just at harvest time 
 There came a fire — 'twas someone's terrible 
 crime. . . . 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 45 
 
 I went out just before day was dawning, 
 With my mower and men, one morning, 
 And before we reached the edge of the great 
 field 
 
 Dawn came — and I saw my bounteous 
 
 yield 
 Of life-giving-wheat (so I had called it) in 
 
 ashes laid: 
 I cursed then, and would not be stay'd 
 From cursing by my hired men; 
 I (I am sorry to say it) I cursed God, and 
 
 then 
 Fell upon the ashes of my dead hopes. 
 When I came to my senses I was tied with 
 
 ropes. 
 It seems I had no sooner fallen than I 
 
 sprang up and upon my men crying 
 
 out: 
 They were Germans (one was) and should 
 
 die. ... It was a fearful bout 
 They afterward said, and said, too, I seemed 
 
 the strength of seven men 
 To have, and hurt them sorely while it 
 
 lasted ; then 
 I was weaker'n a cat, and a doctor put me 
 
 to sleep. . . . 
 When I awoke, I went out to my field of 
 
 ashes to weep. 
 
46 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 I mourned for the loet beautiful wheat 
 I had hoped would know the heat 
 Of soldiers' across-the-sea camp ovens, 
 when ground 
 
 Into flour ; and now 'tis but a mound 
 
 Of ashes. . . . And I thought of how I 
 
 had stood waiting 
 (And not alone — another shared my 
 
 waiting), 
 While gazing upon my wheat and praying 
 
 rain would fall ; 
 And of how the drought had hurt its beauty, 
 
 and of all 
 It meant to my dear ones and self as well 
 As to soldiers : It meant, I must tell 
 You, not only bread for soldiers, but it was 
 
 keeping the fear 
 From my dear ones of being driven forth 
 
 from our home so dear. 
 A mortgage on it our farm long had had; 
 The wheat meant our salvation. . . . 
 
 That I went mad 
 For a while is it any wonder to you? — 
 And it meant I could go to war, across the 
 
 blue 
 Wide sea, where my heart had long 
 Been. ... It seemed I heard, as I 
 
 mourned; the dong, 
 Dong, dong of tolling bells; 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 47 
 
 And it was true, and the yells 
 Of my sweet, little sister and wee, baby 
 brother 
 
 Smote upon my ears : They (and I) had lost 
 a mother. 
 
 The cruel disappointment made my mother 
 
 sick ; and then 
 There came to take possession of our home 
 
 the men 
 
 To whom it had come to belong because of 
 
 all I lost : 
 Together the blows killed my (recently) 
 
 widowed mother. And such a cost 
 To me (and mine) the Kaiser and his 
 
 bought men laugh at. 
 He ordered my wheat to be burned ; I 
 
 knew that 
 When I fell upon my hired men, thinking 
 
 them Germans. . . 
 More, too, my wheat meant. I was expect- 
 ing to marry — the banns 
 Had been read. . . . That other who 
 
 had shared my waiting for rain — my 
 
 sweetheart — 
 Was to be my ''soldier-bride. " Now how 
 
 can I from her part! 
 
48 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 We've been comrades almost ever since we 
 v^ere babies, hardly ever alone, 
 
 (Now we're old enough to have a baby of 
 our own). 
 
 If only the wheat had been spared, 
 
 I and the dear, dear one, who so gladly 
 
 shared 
 All my anxieties, could have married soon, 
 And I could have gone to war this June, 
 Leaving my wife and mother well-fixed till 
 
 my time of returning 
 To them — and to a son, perhaps, added to 
 
 still my yearning 
 For a son of my own to help carry on one 
 
 day 
 As a soldier of the soil : For that I did pray. 
 If the wheat had been harvested and the 
 
 mortgage paid, 
 My sweetheart would now be my wife and 
 
 around me would be laid 
 Her dear arms in parting for me to go to 
 
 war : That I could stand ; but here 
 To live and not to possess her is hard ; she 
 
 is so dear, 
 And lovely and good. . . . But I have 
 
 now not a thing 
 To offer her (except love) who would to me 
 
 bring 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 49 
 
 So much. . . . I'll remember her best 
 
 as she stood with me that noon, 
 Before the rain came we'd prayed for to 
 
 come soon ; 
 There in my field we together watched the 
 
 rippling breeze-made waves make 
 Shadows play o'er the beautiful, golden 
 
 wheat-lake. 
 And the light breeze bent the heads of 
 
 bearded grain 
 And whispered with gadness to it of rain: 
 A whisper my sweetheart and I heard, too. 
 Rain was coming! Precious rain! At its 
 
 first drops so few, 
 My sweetheart stayed by my side ; but the 
 
 wind blew 
 Harder and harder, and thunder roared and 
 
 crashed, 
 So she kissed me, for rejoicing, and ran, as 
 
 lightning flashed. 
 
 To shelter. My sweetheart is afraid oi 
 
 lightning, and of thunder. 
 And that has made me, sometimes wonder, 
 For I really enjoy it — or I did 
 Before the Kaiser-bought-fiends, bid 
 By him, destroyed all enjoyment in my- 
 
 life. . / . 
 
50 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 But I'll show them! I'll enter the war- 
 strife, 
 Over There ! Yes, I'm going to war, to fight 
 The d — n Huns, to help slay cruel Might! 
 I'll put my orphaned brother and sister 
 Out — in some good, childless woman's 
 
 home — let their tears blister 
 As they will my heart. For I've got to go; 
 That anyone should see. I must show 
 Those wicked Germans they'll yet pay 
 For the crime that took every ray 
 Of sunshine from my life ! Oh, how can 
 
 men so slay? 
 I ask of God — How can they? 
 
 RETALIATION? NO! 
 
 (Told to Eloise Cooper Fowler by a French 
 Soldier.) 
 
 They talk of revenge, of retaliation, 
 
 On the wives and children of the German 
 
 nation 
 For the murder of our dear ones 
 By the damned marauding Huns. 
 But revenge cannot thus be taken, I know/ 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 51 
 
 For I Stood with arm up-raised for the 
 
 avenging blow, 
 On a German wife and her children three, 
 And my aim was well-taken, but ah, mel 
 Something paralyzed my strong right arm 
 And I could iiot do them harm. 
 Insistent voices within me said : 
 Not thus can you avenge your dead, 
 But on their heads heap coals of fire 
 And gone will be your revengeful desire. 
 
 It proved to be so — 
 
 And now you want to know 
 
 If 'tis to be so 
 
 With every would-be-avenging blow, 
 
 How can we make the German nation pay 
 
 For the murder of our loved the Huns did 
 
 slay? 
 In another manner it must surely be 
 Than that our first mad thoughts would 
 
 take, I plainly see. 
 But how? — Well I wis 
 That it must be like this : 
 In battle, in sight of other men 'tis willed 
 Each man who's had wife and children of 
 
 his killed 
 Shall seek the murderer of his own; 
 The murderer, and he alone, 
 
52 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Is the one to pay 
 
 For the lives he took away. 
 
 The defenceless wife and children of the 
 
 Hun * 
 
 Must not be killed nor made to run 
 That we revenge may take 
 For our dead, dear ones' sake. 
 Those dear ones would not have it so; 
 If possible, from the grave they would stop 
 
 the blow; 
 They would speak, if they could, to say: 
 Let not the foes' women and children pay 
 For the crime against us done, 
 Lest you to Heaven not be won ; 
 On them unsparing heap coals of fire, 
 That they your ways may admire 
 And teach others to see what you stand for; 
 Thus you'll help break up the war 
 By spreading propaganda truly great 
 Throughout the Kaiser-deceived German 
 
 state. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 53 
 
 TO AMERICANS 
 
 God, who answers prayer, your Father-God, 
 Will help you save the land your fore- 
 fathers trod — 
 Trod in godly fear of Him, in piety ; 
 For He led them to your goodly country 
 Where they could worship Him in freedom 
 From persecution, while trying to set up 
 
 His Kingdom 
 On earth, and He will not let it be taken 
 
 from you, 
 Because it's your inheritance from them and 
 in worshipping Him you are true 
 To them. And He likes the way you pray, 
 
 and the way you fast 
 From meat and wheat; in prayer and fast 
 you think of yourselves last. 
 
 You pray for shell-torn France and for 
 England, too, 
 
 Dear kindred lands across the sea so blue, 
 
 Also for ruined Belgium and for Alsace- 
 Lorraine, 
 
 They, too, lie far across the main; 
 
54 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 You pray, too, for bewildered Russia and 
 
 for Serbia, 
 For Montenegro, massacred Armenia and 
 
 for Syria, 
 Also for ravished, beaten-down Poland, 
 And God knows you have stretched out a 
 
 helping hand 
 To each land you have prayed for; knows 
 
 that all 
 Have been more or less sorely hurt by the 
 
 Kaiser-made-war-ball. 
 
 And because God likes what you have done 
 
 To help the lands cruelly hurt by the Hun, 
 
 He will continue to keep you a favored race ; 
 
 For He knows that in all you do you ask 
 of His dispensing grace 
 
 To bless your every good deed. 
 
 He, who sees each land's every need. 
 
 Sanctions this war-against-war you are 
 waging 
 
 Against the wolfish Hun, for that Hun has 
 gone raging. 
 
 Beastly mad, through neutral lands, trying 
 them to destroy 
 
 Utterly (and succeeding), has gone spoil- 
 ing, slaughtering, pillaging in unholy 
 joy. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 55 
 
 God knows all this was done by the 
 Kaiser's rule, 
 
 And He will send that wicked man to re- 
 pentant school 
 
 To con his lessons o'er and o'er, (and he 
 will yet feel the Might 
 
 Of God's Hand — he who thinks God could 
 be on the side of aught but Right). 
 
 And the Kaiser will learn in repentant 
 school 
 
 That God only does really rule. 
 
 Yes, that man called his Satanic Majesty 
 Will yet learn his lessons well.. For his 
 
 audacity 
 In claiming a righteous God is on his side 
 In his war for land and power, he shall ride 
 In company with Satan — to learn from him 
 
 with pain 
 What it means to lose his all in trying more 
 
 to gain. 
 Yes, the mad Kaiser will pray in vain 
 For a leaven of God's Just Wrath. God 
 
 will punish him; 
 God will punish that wicked man with great 
 
 vim. 
 He (the Kaiser) is a madman, and shall be 
 
 deprived 
 
^6 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Of the power from a wiser man derived; 
 Kaiser Wilhelm shall yet cover his face in 
 
 shame, 
 While he kneels and calls in vain on God's 
 
 name. 
 In a vision I saw God and heard Him say it, 
 And that He, too, would do His Sacred Bit. 
 
 Yes, Americans, every nation you've prayed 
 
 for, for God's mercy, 
 He has the name of in His Book of Destiny. 
 But all will be mentioned here, lest you 
 
 think 
 God has not noted them ; lest you fear they 
 
 will have to drink 
 Forever of the bitter cup that's been forced 
 
 upon them 
 By the will of a madman whose rage they've 
 
 tried to stem. 
 Know that the name of brave Italy, and as 
 
 brave Scotland, 
 Is written in that Book bv God's Righteous 
 
 Hand, 
 As is that of every British possession that 
 
 is loyal, brave and true, 
 Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, 
 
 too: 
 All have done their best — all they could, 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 57 
 
 As have the brave colonies in Africa; H'e 
 
 would 
 Not forget the negro, either, who has proved 
 
 brave, 
 For He created both black and white, and 
 
 the black doth crave 
 His blessing with as great fervor as anj; 
 
 race I know, 
 And he will continue to the black His favor 
 
 to show 
 So long as the black continues meek, to 
 
 show he's seen the light. 
 So long as he continues to help fight for 
 
 the Right. 
 
 Japan stands ready to give more help, and 
 
 God does now trust 
 Her — because she would never align her- 
 self with Germany : Rust 
 Should eat her sword and gun before she 
 
 should commit such a blunder. 
 She was suspicious of America ; and is a 
 
 wary nation, some say no wonder 
 Considering . . . and that to be sus^ 
 
 picious and wary is sometimes well; 
 That if America had so been of Germany in 
 
 the beginning who can tell 
 How much better it might have been for 
 
 her! Still, 
 
58 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 That America was slow to believe the worst 
 of Germany will 
 
 Not be held against her in history. . . . 
 Japan and Russia should be friends 
 
 It would be well for all concerned if each 
 to each amends 
 
 Would make ; if forgiveness by each to each 
 would be given: 
 
 They then could indeed help the world war- 
 riven. 
 
 Russia's name, is of course, in God's Book 
 — poor, stressed nation, 
 
 And Japan's is there, too; but if He sees 
 signs of Japanese aggression, 
 
 He will strike it off. . . . Albania, Pal- 
 estine and Greece are named 
 
 In His Book. And you may rest assured 
 that each country famed 
 
 For its stand against Germany will not be 
 forgotten by Him: 
 
 He will keep all true countries from being 
 forever hurt by the Kaiser's whim. 
 
 Portugal is named — she was quick to offer 
 
 soldiers, braving 
 Germany's wrath, Peru, too; both small 
 
 but craving 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 59 
 
 To do all they can; also Chile, Brazil and 
 Nicaragua, Hayti, Costa Rica and 
 Guatemala, 
 
 And another country doing all she can- 
 China. 
 
 They have taken their stand on the side of 
 Right. 
 
 How easy it is for most countries to see the 
 
 Light 
 In this world-war! Germany has made it 
 
 easy by forsaking 
 Every established war-principle — by making 
 Her name a by-word of reproach to the rest 
 
 of the world. . . . 
 The bloody crimes of her rulers smell to 
 
 Heaven, 
 Nothing those crimes can leaven! 
 America! last mentioned, but not least, be- 
 fore you hurled 
 Forth your ultimatum and went to war, you 
 
 did ask 
 Of God if it would be right. ... He 
 
 answered : Yes. For he knew it was 
 
 but a mask 
 Of friendship Germany (or the Kaiser) had 
 
 ever offered you. . . . You are 
 
 brave, 
 Indeed, for you were not prepared. . . . 
 
60 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 The people of your possessions are 
 
 brave, 
 Also, and are so eager to help their govern- 
 ment that they crave, 
 Some of them, to give to it their money for 
 
 w^ar purposes without return ; 
 Why, they even fed their war-stamps to a 
 
 fire! — glad to see them burn! 
 Their names are placed high in God's 
 
 Sacred Book. 
 (In the vision I saw them : How I love that 
 
 look !) 
 
 Americans! God looks from High Heaven 
 upon you, 
 
 Who to your ideals have proved so true, 
 
 Who have looked to him for grace, 
 
 And asked Him if it were His will that your 
 race 
 
 Should wage Just war against Lustful war; 
 and He says I love 
 
 Your America, and all the lands you have 
 prayed for, and I no dove 
 
 Of untimely peace shall send. No ! Con- 
 tinue true to be, 
 
 To send your soldiers across the wide sea; 
 
 Arm them well to go forth to fight, 
 
 To help your allies to battle for the Right ; 
 
VERSE6 OF LOVE 61 
 
 And He will help them, for His Son Jesus, 
 
 Whom He gave to be crucified that 
 
 all 
 Who believe in Him may live eternally, has 
 
 asked His Father to keep the vy^ar- 
 
 ball 
 From hitting you too sorely ; and His Father 
 
 answered that He would, and that 
 Kaiser Wilhelm shall learn that God reigns 
 
 supreme on earth as in Heaven — 
 
 that 
 His Power is the One True Power that 
 
 counts : 
 And from the high horse Kaiser Wilhelm 
 
 now mounts 
 He shall fall, and never rise to make the 
 
 people of the German nation 
 Do his mad will; never again keep them 
 
 under subjugation. 
 
 Why has God's Son Jesus interceded for 
 
 America, for you? 
 Because you are the nation that has been 
 
 kindest to the Jew. 
 Jesus would return good for evil, for un- 
 
 kindness grace. 
 And though He once was persecuted by the 
 
 Jewish race, 
 
62 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 He forgave them, for ''they knew not what 
 
 they did." 
 He knows that His Father, from Whom 
 
 nothing is hid, 
 Foresees the day when the Jewish race will 
 
 on His Son believe. 
 And when Jesus interceded for them that 
 
 they might once more Jerusalem 
 
 receive 
 As their own, God listened to Him — that 
 
 has been proved — 
 And will grant all His requests. And the 
 
 massed soldiers of England who 
 
 moved 
 To the Holy City to hold it for the Jew, 
 Who have to their country and allies proved 
 
 true. 
 Shall have their names kept bright in God's 
 
 Book of Eternal Life ; 
 And He will continue to help them in their 
 
 strife, 
 So long as they battle for the Right and for 
 
 each needy and brave little nation, 
 To help all who call upon them in deep 
 
 tribulation. 
 
 Americans ! God loves you — brave men and 
 brave women all — 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 63 
 
 You who look to Him to bless your every 
 good deed shall 
 
 Continue to receive His Blessing. Youf 
 voices cry loud to Him 
 
 To help those stricken by the Kaiser's whim, 
 
 For those (How He feels for them), kneel- 
 ing by tombs; 
 
 For the ravished women, whose wombs 
 
 Would revolt in abortion if they could (in 
 time) 
 
 Before they would bear children of German- 
 Lust (of crime). 
 
 And He says unto you that blessed is that 
 daughter 
 
 Of France who rid her nation of her child 
 of this Lust by slaughter. 
 
 Other daughters hurt like her would surely 
 have His sanction 
 
 To do likewise, and their names have honor- 
 able mention 
 
 In His Book. God knows it will be a crime 
 against a Just nation 
 
 If its Hun-hurt daughters let their babes of 
 German-lust-creation 
 
 Live to grow up and make of that nation 
 an illegitimate pro-German race 
 
 Who would try to poison every good mind. 
 They would surely live without grace, 
 
64 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 The illegitimate-lust-children of the evil- 
 minded Hun, 
 
 And they must be destroyed when born.— 
 God, who rules the sun, 
 
 Wills it (I heard in my vision) and His 
 Will must be done. 
 
 m 
 
 A RAVISHED ONE: A POLISH 
 COUSIN 
 
 All is gone that made worth living my life! 
 
 And it is the mad, mad strife 
 
 Called war that took from me 
 
 All that made my spirit free; 
 
 All songs from my lips, all peace from my 
 
 mind. 
 For it was in vain that fast as the poor wild 
 
 hind 
 Running from the pursuing hound, 
 I ran from the terrible, terrible wound 
 I had rather I had died than receive. I ran 
 And ran, and ran and ran and ran. . . . 
 But he caught me, a German-soldier-devil, 
 And ravished me : It was the first I knew of 
 
 evil. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 65 
 
 Before the war my life was peacefully joy- 
 ous ; mild, 
 And now — full of torment : I am with child-^ 
 With child ! I am wild, wild, wild, 
 And my Lover will be wild. . . 
 My lover, who, when I saw him off to war. 
 Little knew that between us would come a 
 
 bar 
 Like this. How shall I endure it — how will he 
 Endure it! How can I ever bear to have 
 
 him see — 
 See the me that is not the me he left me! 
 
 When we parted, my lover and I, I smiled, 
 
 though I was sad. 
 But I thought war glorious then ; now I 
 
 think it Hell. I shall go mad, 
 Mad — Mad — Mad. . . . 
 And that devil is glad — glad — glad. 
 Oh, God ! won't you pity me and punish that 
 
 wicked man-beast 
 For his crime against me? The least 
 You can do is to make him feel 
 In some terrible way how he has made my 
 
 weal 
 All woe. ... I can never see my lover 
 
 again ; 
 I don't — yes, I do— want to, but it would 
 
 cause too much pain. 
 
66 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 I could not bear to have him see me 
 As I am now, could not bear that he 
 Should look upon me with a killed-delight 
 
 look 
 On his face, his dear, dear face that I toolc 
 In my hands when I looked last into his eyes 
 And swore to be true — swore that steadfast 
 
 as the skies 
 I would be. God ! And he will think 
 I wasn't true. He will scorn me, and the 
 
 link 
 That bound us will be broken forever. 
 Oh! He is lost to me and I to him forever! 
 It is too, too much — forever. 
 
 Dear God! My lover has come! 
 
 He has come! He has come! He has come! 
 
 I would flee ! I would flee ! I would hide ! 
 
 But I can't. . . . My lover has come to 
 my side. 
 
 Dear God ! He has not turned from me ; 
 
 He loves me still, though he can see 
 
 Our wonderful joy in love has been de- 
 stroyed ; 
 
 Lovers' bliss never more to be enjoyed, 
 
 Wedded bliss and parenthood never to be. 
 
 Oh, the home we had planned for, a child at 
 each knee ! 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 67 
 
 All is gone ; and it isn't because of crime of 
 
 mine. 
 (The evil deed of that Beast keeps me, my 
 
 lover, from being thine.) 
 Now that my lover has heard my awful 
 
 story, 
 He will go (I can see it in his eyes) and get 
 
 for me all gory, 
 A part of the man-beast! He'll give it 
 
 to me! 
 Dear God, (You who see my anguish), I 
 
 pray Thee, 
 If this be wrong, forgive me, but I want to 
 
 see it burn, 
 Burn slowly, and slowly to ashes turn 
 (So it can never again inflict a worse-than- 
 
 death-wound, 
 Nor for another make of a thousand dear 
 
 hopes a grave-mound) : 
 I'll laugh again then and be glad. — 
 (For a minute.) Oh! Oh! Oh! I am mad, 
 I am mad — mad — mad. 
 
 Dear God! My lover is dead. . . . 
 They brought me the news when first I saw 
 
 the head 
 Of that crippled being born to me 
 Because of the Beast's crime. You see 
 
68 VERSES OF lOVE 
 
 What it is ! — Oh, how I want from sight it 
 to cover ! 
 
 Why couldn't it die instead of my lover? 
 
 Why must it live to cumber the earth? 
 
 Or why couldn't I have died before its birth? 
 
 I would gladly have died, but I was too 
 strong ; 
 
 And to have taken my life would have been 
 too wrong, 
 
 Though I tried to take it when I was mad. 
 
 After, I waited, outwardly calm, for some- 
 thing to make me glad ; 
 
 I will never have it : that Beast killed 
 
 My lover. Oh, can it be it was willed 
 
 From the beginning that all this should be? 
 
 And that I shall have to live, and see 
 
 Live this diseased brat that I hate, 
 
 To have it for company instead of my mate? 
 
 If so, I shall go mad again. 
 
 Oh, how I hate it! and hate is worse than 
 pain. 
 
 Dear God, please look down and pity me 
 now, 
 
 Put Thy far-reaching Hand on my brow ; 
 
 For Thou art my only lover now. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 69 
 
 TO KAISER WILHELM 
 
 Of you, mad man, would-be ruler of the 
 world, 
 
 Of you, unworthy Kaiser, I earnestly ask — 
 
 What are you thinking of behind the 
 Satanic mask 
 
 You wear? You who have in mad desire 
 hurled 
 
 The whole world into war? 
 
 If the truth were known I believe you know 
 now there's a bar 
 
 To your winning. ... A living bar, 
 mad man. 
 
 That you and your soldiers cannot with- 
 stand 
 
 Long. The American army. Kaiser Wilhelm 
 of Germany, 
 
 Stands between you and the world-empire 
 you crave ; 
 
 An army fighting for more than ever was 
 fought for before, as brave 
 
 As the Spartans who fought at Ther- 
 mopylae.. . 
 
70 VERSES OF lOVE 
 
 Lustful Kaiser, when to your German god 
 you pray, 
 
 Do you ever think of the three hundred 
 Spartans at bay 
 
 At Thermopylae in 480 B. C, who for three 
 days fought 
 
 The mighty Persian army and such annihila- 
 tion wrought 
 
 Among it that twenty thousand (Persians) 
 perished? 
 
 (One was left of the Spartans.) Cherished 
 
 Is the memory of those three hundred, 
 Kaiser, 
 
 Think ! Each Spartan killed sixty-six 
 Persians! — think and grow wiser: 
 
 For American soldiers being equal to the 
 Spartans of old, 
 
 Then each one can vanquish sixty-six 
 Germans, however bold. 
 
 However bold your German Huns in the 
 fight, 
 
 They cannot conquer for they are not fight- 
 ing for the Right. 
 
 On sea, too, the Spartans were conquerors 
 
 brave : 
 In the battle of Salamis, for instance. You 
 
 crave 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 71 
 
 To rule the deep, also, with your submarine 
 But British navy men are as brave as 
 
 Spartans, I ween. 
 And you'll get chased out of the sea, 
 Yes you will, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany! 
 Think, mad Kaiser! 
 Think, and grow wiser! . . . 
 Would you and your sons like to be sent to 
 
 some lone desert isle 
 To do penance for your crimes the rest of 
 
 your days? 
 The world wants you there, so it can once 
 
 more joyously smile 
 To think that you would then be kept from 
 
 keeping the world ablaze. 
 
 Yield, now. Kaiser Wilhelm, when yielding 
 
 is good. 
 (For you will always be withstood.) 
 Yield yourself and sons. Prisoners of War; 
 Don't think your crimes will be a bar 
 To your being well-treated. Never fear! 
 You know how well German-prisoners are 
 
 treated here. 
 If you yield and order your soldiers to yield, 
 'Twill be held to your credit; and though 
 
 not on the battlefield 
 
72 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 You gained honor, you will gain in youi 
 
 yielding 
 Something that will slightly atone for the 
 
 wielding 
 Of the murderous battle guns 
 By your German-Huns. 
 
 If you don't yield, but keep your heart hard 
 as stone, 
 
 You will one day stand entirely alone : 
 
 Even your allies will leave you, Kaiser, 
 
 Oh, think and at once be wiser! 
 
 Once you were a boy with a pleasant, in- 
 nocent face ! 
 
 Oh, Kaiser! Look now on that picture of 
 you when you thought not of mace 
 
 With which to try to club the world into 
 slavery to you! — 
 
 And compare it with the picture of you that 
 shows all true 
 
 Feeling (in you) for humanity is gone. 
 
 Is it gone forever, Kaiser? If so, — Dong! 
 
 Goes the bell to toll your doom ; 
 
 Not so pleasant it will be to you as the war 
 boom 
 
 Of your guns. 
 Quickening your Huns, 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 73 
 
 I know, 
 
 You know ; 
 
 The world knows, 
 
 And God knows. 
 
 The world's God, Wilhelm o'er the sea, 
 
 Wicked Kaiser of Germany! 
 
 Not your German god, 
 
 Who owns not the chastening rod 
 
 With which the world's God chastens those 
 
 he loves best; 
 And which He will withdraw in His good 
 
 time, to give them rest. 
 
 Then, Kaiser, beware! for with its with- 
 drawal 
 
 Your knell will be rung! You can then 
 bawl 
 
 For World Power the rest of your life — 
 
 In vain. And never again can you in war- 
 strife 
 
 Embroil the world ! 
 
 You'll be hurled 
 
 From your throne! — 
 
 To stand all alone. 
 
 And to a desert isle you'll go with your sons 
 
 To do penance — for your crimes and the 
 Hun's. 
 
 You'll have plenty of time to think there! 
 
 Again I, say (the World says), Kaiser, 
 beware ! 
 
74 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 "RESISTER SUR PLACE" 
 
 ("Stick Here Until We Are Dead, Or Fight 
 It Out Where You Are.") 
 
 "Stick here until we are dead" 
 
 Were the words passed along the line ! 
 
 Not a man was afraid of German lead! 
 
 Each one said: I take the motto for mine! 
 
 And so the line was strengthened. 
 
 And slowly the afternoon shadows length- 
 ened. 
 
 So slowly to the waiting men, eager for the 
 fray, 
 
 Eager with tense expectancy to hear the 
 boastful bray 
 
 Of many a big German shell. 
 
 That to them would tell — 
 
 Bombardment has finally begun 
 
 By the German Hun. 
 
 The clouds pink-edged beauty, caused by 
 
 the setting sun, 
 Observed by Frenchmen, American and 
 
 Hun, 
 
VERSES OF LOVE , 75 
 
 Vanished, and a pale moon shed a ghostly 
 light 
 
 Over the battlefield, where gathered to fight, 
 
 Against a murderous might. 
 
 Forces strengthened anew by thoughts oi 
 Right. 
 
 The moon fled by eleven, by the wrist 
 watches. 
 
 And all was silent and dark, except foi 
 blotches 
 
 Of blue-green, transitory lights on the vel- 
 vet darkness of the sky. 
 
 That told where many a soldier had fought 
 to die — 
 
 Was turning back to untimely dust 
 
 Because of the German War Lord's Lust. 
 
 All was silent ! Still, so very still ! 
 Whispering men — soon to go through the 
 
 mill 
 Of battle again — spoke their before-battle- 
 
 words, there on the Marne, 
 Where many a pool, a veritable tarn, 
 Of blood would be made to boil 
 On the war-worn, shell-torn soil ! 
 What cared the men when they felt it was 
 
 for Right 
 They would perhaps give their lives that 
 
 night ! 
 
76 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 They did not envy the protected men at 
 home; 
 
 They wanted to be Over There in the 
 gloam, 
 
 For God and their country's right to their 
 lives 
 
 Had called them there — and they would 
 fight hand to hand with knives 
 
 If the need should arise (perhaps they 
 wanted the chance) 
 
 For Home, for Allied Countries, for Sweet- 
 heart — France ! 
 
 Each soldier who had a waiting one, seem- 
 ingly far away. 
 
 At home, had written his good-bye that day, 
 
 And that night their thoughts had ceased 
 to go homing, 
 
 Their thoughts tensed on only the battle 
 coming. 
 
 For German signals, flashing from com- 
 manding post to commanding post, 
 
 Told them that at last the enemy host 
 
 Was nearly ready to begin the fight of the 
 defensive ; 
 
 Because of their failure to make untenable 
 the French positions, abandoning the 
 offensive. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 77 
 
 But how the time still dragged ! 
 
 It was twelve-five when the crimson flashes 
 
 wagged 
 In the star spangled sky, and the grunting 
 Of the great German guns, in activity 
 
 bunting 
 Their shells into the air, was faintly borne 
 To our men in their trenches on the Marne. 
 
 At twelve-ten, big shells, high in air, yet 
 
 near, 
 Whining and passing to the rear. 
 Told us that the bombardment our sector 
 
 had reached, 
 ^f Jesus, crucified but living, could have 
 
 then appeared and preached 
 To the German Huns, they would have 
 
 mowed him down ; 
 They recognize only a German War God 
 
 and Crown.) 
 The German front reflected violently irreg- 
 ular waves of light. 
 From their artillery discharging in fiendish 
 
 might ! 
 Trembled the earth and rocked! 
 The Huns thought their continuous shelling 
 
 mocked 
 
78 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 The F. and A. forces that had their offensive 
 
 defeated ! 
 The F. and A. forces showed them later 
 
 how such mockery should be treated I 
 
 From Chateau-Thierry on the west 
 
 To Main de Massiges on the east 
 
 The sixty-mile front extended, 
 
 And the guns' shells their way wended 
 
 Over the front. Forty miles to Paris was 
 carried the sound 
 
 Of their whining, as they were striving to 
 -wound 
 
 And kill all within reach there on the 
 Marne ; 
 
 It was a current of favorable air on which 
 was borne 
 
 That sound ; for it was not heard at Head- 
 quarters A-N-C, 
 
 In a town not far back on the line of out 
 soldier-sea, 
 
 (Not on the line of the angry sea of des- 
 perate Huns striving to be a bar 
 
 To Liberty and Right), though it was per- 
 haps the heaviest bombardment of the 
 war, 
 
 There on the Marne that night. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 79 
 
 During- the four hours of bombardment by 
 
 German forces in armament 
 Not a murderously sent shell struck our 
 
 men. 
 Though the front-line trenches were blown 
 
 to pieces then, 
 In dug-outs and in saps they were protected 
 
 well, 
 But their forced inactivity was to them 
 
 more trying than tongue can tell ; 
 For they ached to put the would-be murder- 
 ers to rout, 
 Who with shells were rending the ground 
 
 them about. 
 It is well that they did not have to cry alas 
 
 or alack, 
 That they were well fortified against the 
 
 German attack; 
 For after bombardment slackened, they did 
 
 lose some men — 
 Because of failure of some of their plans to 
 
 place wire barriers before tho boche- 
 
 men, 
 Who impetuously came swarming, our front 
 
 lines storming. 
 
 "Boche in the trench !" were words excitedly 
 
 shouted, 
 And the fight was on — Germans to be 
 
 routed ! 
 
80 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 In one hour this first German attack 
 
 Was repulsed — the Boches driven back! — ■ 
 
 Back to their own lines, except those who 
 
 hid in our front, by desire, 
 In deserted dug-outs ; some of them were to 
 
 be killed later by German attack — 
 In which they were again to be driven back, 
 Though for two days and nights on our 
 
 reserve positions they fired, — 
 And on the country in the rear — to demolish 
 
 them, they desired; 
 But they did not demolish them, and we did 
 
 not have to call them in. 
 Many of them the battle watched (under 
 
 quickly thrown-up cover) eager — the 
 
 knowing — to see who'd win. 
 
 Much harder it was to defend this second 
 
 attack, 
 To again drive the murderous Germans 
 
 back ! 
 Gun emplacements eleven were in action 
 
 this time. 
 When they came across to continue in crime. 
 About twenty-five thousand men were by 
 
 them sent over in two days, 
 And twenty-two times they advanced, their 
 
 fighting ways 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 81 
 
 Were savage enough ; the roaring of shells 
 
 in all directions overhead, 
 Dropping, some on living, some on dead, 
 Was deafening. Hot it was, too, as oven^ 
 
 heat; our trenches were holes of Hell; 
 As filled with smoke and gas as is filled with 
 
 water a well. 
 Perhaps the driving heat made our troops 
 
 fight the fiercer. — Land! 
 When the Germans in our main lines got, 
 
 our soldiers (Americans) fought them 
 
 hand to hand ! 
 
 When the Germans found they could not 
 
 break through the troops — American, 
 And down march to dear old historic 
 
 Chalons, 
 It was the end of Tuesday, a day for them, 
 
 a rue's day; 
 Had come the hour they had set to arrive 
 
 there, the city to be manning, 
 Finding them where they had been when 
 
 planning ! 
 On both Monday and Tuesday, German 
 
 birdmen, over the battlefield flying, 
 Sent machine-gun bullets into our trenches 
 
 — sometimes hitting their own men, 
 
 living or dying — 
 
82 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 But they had to keep a lookout, wary, above 
 and below them, 
 
 For our own birdmen, swooping down, bat- 
 tle to give them; 
 
 To make more than one pay for his daring, 
 to avenge the death, 
 
 Of comrades in arms before those comrades 
 of life fell bereft. 
 
 Ceased on Tuesday the artillery bombard- 
 ment and the fights, 
 
 But on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and 
 Friday nights 
 
 Over our lines, and over Chalons, German 
 aeroplanes flew. 
 
 Dropping large bombs of destruction, not a 
 few. . . . 
 
 Interesting it is to know that while Ameri- 
 can troops 
 
 Fought back the savage German troops, 
 
 The inhabitants of Chalons sought refuge 
 
 In the city's wine caves huge. 
 
 Which sheltered half a hundred thousand 
 and a few more. 
 
 Who their beloved city rightfully adore. 
 
 The Germans coveted it — and were cocksure 
 of having it for their own. 
 
 To hold forever and its people to keep down! 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 83 
 
 And the Germans might have taken this 
 
 city, 
 {Which would have indeed been a pity !) 
 Had not American troops at the point of all 
 
 points where 
 They (Germans) had hoped to surge 
 
 through there, 
 Stood them off ; stood bombardment by gas 
 
 and shell ; 
 Each savage attack; and in answer never 
 
 did soldiers fight so well! 
 And so scientifically protected themselves 
 
 from the gas that practically all 
 
 thrown 
 (By Germans) was wasted! American 
 
 troops more than held their own 1 
 Theirs was the victory ! Oh ! on land or in 
 
 the air, 
 Who can with they who saved Chalons 
 
 compare? 
 They who faltered not in carrying out the 
 
 resolve they made when they said, 
 ^'Resister Sur Place, (Stick here until we 
 
 are dead)." 
 
84 VERGES OF IX)VE 
 
 SONG OF THE ALLIES TO AMERICA 
 
 America, we looked to thee 
 
 To help us in our war for Liberty, 
 
 For Liberty and Right 
 
 Against Wrong and Lustful Might. 
 
 And you to your ideals of Right proved true 
 
 And sent your Red, White and Blue 
 
 To join our allied colors Over Here, 
 
 And your dear soldiers to join our soldiers 
 
 dear, 
 To fight with them at Justice's Post, 
 Just when they needed you most. 
 
 (Refrain) 
 
 Just when we needed you most of all, 
 
 Just when o'er us there hung a pall. 
 
 You answered our clear, our poignant call ; 
 
 Just when we needed you most. 
 
 Just when we needed you most of all. 
 
 Just when Might's hand hardest would fall, 
 
 You sent your soldiers to fight and fall ; 
 
 Just when we needed you most. 
 
 Just when most of all we needed you, 
 
 You proved loyal and brave and true, 
 
 You honored your Red, White and Blue ; 
 
 Just when we needed you most. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 86 
 
 America, land of the free! Land of the free! 
 In our future dealings with thee, 
 May we ever move rightly and be just, 
 May we ever prove worthy of your trust. 
 America, we would give you your due meed 
 
 of praise — 
 You who did the world amaze 
 With your large, trained army in so short a 
 
 time — 
 For joining in our fight against wholesale 
 
 crime. 
 For just when we needed you most 
 Coming to aid our cause that seemed lost 
 
 FAITH 
 
 I sat by my window at dawn 
 
 And watched the rising sun 
 Make beautiful the morn, 
 
 The far horizon. 
 
 Through the night, vigil I had kept, 
 For I had bade my mate good-bye 
 
 The day before. . . . He sailed for 
 France. I wept, 
 I wept in his arms, too. Why? 
 
86 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Because he had told me he'd think 
 
 The woman hard-hearted who'd not cry 
 
 When standing at the parting-brink 
 She to her mate said good-bye. 
 
 So I gave him the pleasure 
 
 Of kissing my tears away, 
 Of seeing, and feeling, the full measure 
 
 Of my love that day. 
 
 I 
 
 He did not doubt my will to be brave, 
 To smile if smiles he'd wanted that day; 
 
 He wished to see I'd feel bereft and crave 
 His presence my fears to allay. 
 
 The night's vigil taught me 
 
 What I had felt I knew before, 
 That God would watch o'er the sea 
 
 While my mate journeyed to another 
 shore. 
 
 ( 
 
 So more fully I gave my mate into His care, 
 And knew if he were drowned at sea 
 
 Or killed in battle 'twould not be for lack 
 of prayer, 
 But His will for my mate and me. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 87 
 
 I heard the first morning song bird 
 
 Calling to his mate — 
 She, understanding his every word, 
 
 Came to him, and close by his side sate. 
 
 Seeing the love-birds together. 
 
 Made me w^ant my mate ; 
 Who nov^r, in fair or stormy weather, 
 
 Is fighting in France, while, protected, 
 here I wait. 
 
 I heard my mate calling me 
 
 To come to him in dreams and strengthen 
 His spirit, and so I will to be 
 
 There by his side, always as the days 
 lengthen, 
 
 I know I strengthen my mate. 
 
 I hold him in my arms. 
 He knows I'll always for him wait. 
 
 And feels — though far from me — my love 
 warms. 
 
 I'll for him wait, yes, for him wait. 
 
 Even till the judgment day; 
 When we'll learn who was master of his fate 
 
 When he was "called" away. 
 
S8 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 When he was called away to France, 
 To fight for Liberty and Right, 
 
 And glad, too, to have the chance 
 To help rout the beasts of Might. 
 
 The beasts of Might who prey 
 
 On innocence and happiness in the Near 
 East, 
 Who, it is true, one master obey 
 
 But not the True One; God; but the 
 Beast. 
 
 I'm glad I sent my mate against them: 
 
 He is helping their Might 
 And wickedness to stem ; 
 
 He is doing his all in this great fight. 
 
 And I willed he should. 
 
 He did not have to go ; 
 But he wanted to, and I, too, wanted to do 
 good, 
 So sent him Over There my goodness to 
 show. 
 
 Oh, my mate, my beautiful mate, 
 You may not, in the flesh, come 
 To me again, but you'll wait 
 In Heaven for me, till I, too, go Home! 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 TO FIDO, A RED CROSS DOG. 
 
 They told me a learned hand 
 
 Had kept me from crossing the Border 
 
 Land; 
 So I was thinking of Paradise, 
 But I was looking in Fido's eyes. 
 
 Someone called him a cur, 
 My eyes with tears began to blur ; 
 The word cut my heart like a knife, 
 A cur ! He who really saved my life ! 
 
 Fido whimpered, and painfully crawled 
 
 closer to my bed's side, 
 And I put forth a weak, trembling hand, in 
 
 pride. 
 And patted him on his noble head. 
 They have denied you a soul, dog dear, I 
 
 said. 
 
 You had deeper eyes of love for seeing, 
 I said, and you've been braver than the 
 
 human being 
 Who called you a cur and denied you a soul, 
 You, who to save me gave all your strength 
 
 in toll. 
 
90 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Let those who call you a cur beware ! 
 You, who brought me here to a doctor's 
 
 care! 
 Oh, the brave devoted soul of you, I said, 
 And knew an old, old belief of mine had fled. 
 
 Fido, being too severely wounded, by a 
 Boche, died, and was put in his grave, 
 
 And now there is nothing in the world, aside 
 from winning the war, I so crave 
 
 As to have all others know 
 
 What in these verses I've tried to show. 
 
 y^ 
 
 A NEGRO SPEAKS 
 
 Oh, Liberty, fair Liberty, 
 
 Thy dear, sweet voice didst call to me ! 
 
 It called to me from far away 
 
 For aid in the great fight today. 
 
 And though I (once) came from Africa's 
 
 shore, 
 I answered the call of the goddess I adore, 
 For Liberty was bought for me — 
 Was bought for me with blood, was Liberty. 
 And glad am I at last to show 
 How grateful I am for the great blow 
 That broke my chains of slavery 
 And gave me that dearer than life — Liberty. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 91 
 
 I've got **my" Boche, and more beside, 
 But I'm not puffed up with pride — 
 Though I wear the Croix de Guerre. 
 For what's killing a few of the animal-men 
 
 called the Hun 
 And making, in terror, run 
 A score? I would it were more, 
 To help square my debt to the noble dead, 
 Who for me bled 
 
 In America's civil war — for my liberty : 
 For Liberty, fair Liberty, 
 And for the Right ; 
 And for these I, too, do fight. 
 
 TO THE BACHELOR-WOMAN 
 AFRAID TO MARRY 
 
 Running-from-life-woman, you know (oi 
 
 what you were made. 
 And you are of the best life can give afraid! 
 Oh! take your head from out the (figura- 
 tive) sand 
 Where you hide your (cowardly) fear, and 
 Open wide your clear, bright eyes 
 That need more life-knowledge to make 
 them really wise; 
 
92 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Take your fingers from your want-to-be- 
 deaf ears 
 And let them hear what the wise woman 
 
 hears, 
 Take your courage in both hands — so tender 
 To caress — and to your Maker render 
 Thanks for the strong body He to you has 
 
 given 
 To help Him people the world war riven. 
 
 Once you have done this you will go 
 On your way rejoicing; you will show, 
 Dear (once) running-from-life-woman, that 
 
 you have become brave — 
 You will marry and give to your nation the 
 
 sons it doth crave ; 
 Then a new name you will forever have : 
 Running-to-meet-life-woman your name 
 
 will be, 
 And it will be a name honored by three 
 Wise men — greatest scold, greatest critic, 
 
 greatest author, 
 And by all who have mocked you before. 
 And you will be glad — and more glad still-— 
 That you have performed your Maker's Will. 
 
VEKSES OF LOVE 93 
 
 LIFE 
 
 In the Land of the LilHes two lovers are 
 standing, 
 
 By those flowers fair their future are plan- 
 ning; 
 
 And joy fills the hours that seem to be flying, 
 
 While their future looks as fair as the flow- 
 ers that one with another seem to be 
 vying. 
 
 From another land to ''Balmy Bermuda" 
 they had come sailing, 
 
 From its cold storms that harmed him while 
 they went wailing, 
 
 That there his health he would regain they 
 sailed hoping; 
 
 They had not hoped in vain — time is 
 proving. 
 
 Soon he will be well and good-bye to the 
 Lillies they will be saying, 
 
 And for a safe life-voyage together will be 
 praying. 
 
 Their mothers sailed with them, happy in 
 their children's joy — never sighing; 
 
 One Loves her girl, the other her boy — with 
 Love undying; 
 
94 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 And the two Loves into one are merging, 
 
 While they feel their life-work has been well 
 done, as billows are surging. 
 
 They cannot see the black cloud over them 
 all lowering — 
 
 Ready to burst and with might let fall its 
 gathering. 
 
 Of their widowed homes and country they 
 are thinking; 
 
 Little child-forms in those homes they see- 
 content fills the cup they are drinking, 
 
 While for their children patiently they are 
 waiting 
 
 On board the yacht that, too, is but waiting 
 
 Not far away now is the black cloud that 
 
 for the Lovers will have no silver 
 
 lining, 
 Overcast with war's baleful power is the 
 
 future for which they are pining. 
 But on board the yacht they are made one, 
 
 "never knowing" ; 
 And after the knot's tying, all ceremony 
 
 done, blushes showing. 
 Their mothers leave them, their happiness 
 
 to be completing, 
 And plan to return home, old scenes to be 
 
 greeting ; 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 95 
 
 After the bride and groom sail away — to 
 touch no shore for sight-seeing — 
 
 Where neither mails nor rumors of war can 
 go fleeing. 
 
 One another is the only sight for which they 
 are caring — 
 
 Love the best food upon which they are 
 faring. 
 
 War outstretches its greedy hand, upon 
 their returning, 
 
 And gathers him in to fight for his land— for 
 
 it he is yearning. 
 Wounded before long he is and word is sent 
 
 by cable homing 
 That ere Heaven becomes his tent there's 
 
 time for his bride's coming. 
 See her by the death-bed kneeling! 
 Oh, the heart-break she is feeling! 
 The sword of death about to fall she is 
 
 seeing, 
 And o'er her vision there comes a pall — clear 
 
 mind is fleeing. 
 As from out the depths of her agony so great 
 
 her cry goes ringing: 
 She cries to her dearest for her to wait — he 
 
 hears her singing. 
 
96 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 She (the bride) Sings : — 
 
 Come with me, my love, where the lillies are 
 
 blooming ; 
 Come with me, my dove, where they the aif 
 
 are perfuming. 
 Come with me, my love, whepe we did our 
 
 day dreaming; 
 Come with me, my dove, where love was 
 
 more than seeming. 
 Come with me, my love, oh, rouse from your 
 
 sleeping, 
 Come with me, my dove, there still my 
 
 weeping ; 
 There where the lillies are blooming. 
 
 One said to her : "&he scenes of life are ever 
 
 changing, 
 From hope to joy, from happiness to sorrow 
 
 ever ranging; 
 And not for one alone, but for all in the 
 
 world, 
 So be brave and conquer self. But she 
 
 hurled 
 Her form upon the dear, dead breast, 
 Seeking there for peace and rest. 
 Unheeding the preacher's voice so calm, 
 Aching for heart's ease, for balm. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 97 
 
 Again she sings: — 
 
 Oh, I'll go with you, my love, where fairer 
 
 flowers are blooming; 
 I'll go with you, my dove, where they 
 
 Heaven are perfuming. 
 I'll go with you, my love, there to eternal 
 
 dreaming ; 
 I'll go with you, my dove, there love will be 
 
 more than seeming. 
 I'll go with you my love, where you ga 
 
 sleeping; 
 I'll go with you, my dove, there you will still 
 
 my weeping; 
 There where fairest flowers are blooming. 
 
 Does she die? No! She is too grandly 
 
 strong : 
 This is well ; for to die would be mournfully 
 
 wrong. 
 And what is this she thrillingly sees. 
 As breaths of lesser agony she breathes ! 
 A vision of living for the cause, for right and 
 
 home, 
 To live for her (and her country's needed) 
 
 son to come ! 
 And with his birth (to his country) she 
 
 gives him up, 
 Saying: now I prefer to drink that cup. 
 
98 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 She sings:— 
 I'll live for you, my son so dear, don't be 
 
 fearing ! 
 I'll live till my life-work is done, precious 
 
 dear, don't be fearing! 
 I'l live to help in the strong cause of justice 
 
 and love, that needs our fighting 
 Against Injustice and Hatred, all wrong, 
 
 my little dove; and wrong we must 
 
 be righting! 
 I'll live to breathe in your ears two a fond, 
 
 fond tale — Oh, how I will love the 
 
 telling. 
 Of the bravery of your hero-dad, who died 
 
 before hearing your wail, who loved 
 
 his country with heart swelling 
 To fight for her; and for you and me, dear 
 
 son, — oh, how his soul I'm loving!^ 
 Who died for her and you and me, dear one, 
 
 — oh, how three I'm loving! — 
 Your country and mine, your hero-dad 
 
 (above) and you dear, and I'm no 
 
 longer free to be grieving; 
 For there's work for me to do, dear, for the 
 
 three in me believing.. . . 
 And when my life-work is over, in Heaven 
 
 on his breast I'll be sleeping; 
 And there, oh, there! with my lover, I'll find 
 
 rest — and there there'll be no weep- 
 ing! 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 99 
 
 TO A FLOWER 
 
 For jewels men steal, fight and die — 
 For flashing jewels — and women cry, 
 And set the men on to further quest, 
 And themselves sometimes crime commit- 
 
 lest 
 They lose that within their grasp. 
 
 But give me a flower, a pretty flower, 
 A lovely, a beautiful flower; 
 A flower bright to fondle and hold, 
 A flower of light — of dear old 
 Mother Earth a soul — a flower sweet 
 To tend and nourish and greet. 
 
 Then not jewels nor gold 
 
 Nor wealth untold, 
 
 For which men steal, fight and die. 
 
 Which make women cruel and lie. 
 
 Can make me give a longing gasp. 
 
100 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 WE PRAY 
 
 For our soldiers fighting Over There, 
 Every Christian here sends to our God a 
 
 daily prayer; 
 That He will help them ever — 
 Guide their sight and hand aright, and 
 
 never 
 Forget them, alive or dead. 
 
 For our allied soldiers we make the same 
 
 prayer, 
 They alike we commend to God's loving 
 
 care. 
 And for every loyal server of our country, 
 
 dear. 
 And theirs, we also pray, every day; and 
 
 fear 
 Is conquered by faith in its stead. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 101 
 
 WHY? 
 
 There are babies who have died 
 
 Who might have lived for their country's 
 
 need. 
 By work their mother's hands were tied 
 But money paid — oh, yes, indeed ! — 
 To other women to care for these little ones 
 Who were careless and let the babies die. 
 Neglect caused their deaths! How that 
 
 fact stuns! ... 
 Why allow this neglect to go on? Why? 
 
 I ask my question of those whose influence 
 
 counts. 
 I ask it with tears and a breaking heart, 
 While high indignation mounts. 
 Oh, you who can, do your part ! 
 And save other babies, little babies, deaf 
 
 and sweet ; 
 Dear to their mothers even if these mothers 
 
 are unmarried. 
 (It must not matter to you that the fathers 
 
 never tarried.) 
 
102 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 These mothers love their babies dearly; 
 they arise and greet 
 
 Each new-born day the easier because of a 
 little one ; 
 
 And if it dies, sometimes the mother's in- 
 nate goodness dies 
 
 And she cannot then be helped nor won— 
 
 Back . . . however hard to help her one 
 tries. 
 
 Dear to their mothers have I said 
 
 These babies were — and what of their coun- 
 try shall I say? 
 
 Their country loved these dead ; 
 
 Perhaps it may greatly need them one day. 
 
 Oh, you who have influence, I know 
 
 You love your country ! Then help babies 
 to live ! 
 
 Help unmarried mothers, too; strive them 
 to show 
 
 They have a place here, a right to give ! 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 103 
 
 FIVE WORDS 
 
 There are five words that are wonderful 
 
 words indeed, 
 Five wonderful words of which we all have 
 
 need; 
 They higher than the tallest building tower, 
 They are Truth, Beauty, Virtue, Reason, 
 
 Power ; 
 Words that tell the greatest story, 
 Words that picture greatest glory. 
 Are these five words dear, sublime, — 
 Words that shall outlast all time. 
 
 Men of a long by-gone yesterday 
 Who walked carefully along life's way, 
 Steadfast men who had not the higher 
 
 education 
 That their descendant-men have today in 
 
 our nation, 
 Understood these words better than their 
 
 descendants do today. . . . 
 Should we not study to understand them 
 
 fully as we walk life's way? 
 
104 VERSES OF I.OVE 
 
 Walk? No! We don't walk! Why, we 
 
 fairly run! 
 Or we would (before our lives are half done) 
 Understand perfectly, while yet 'neath 
 
 Heaven's bower, 
 The sublime words — ^Truth, Beauty, Virtue, 
 
 Reason, Power. 
 
 m 
 
 A MOTHER'S APPEAL 
 
 My daughter has left me — to go forth alone 
 Out in the world that's as cold as a stone, 
 To innocence combined with ignorance such 
 
 as hers ; 
 She will find, I fear, many stinging burrs 
 While wresting the meat from her chestnut 
 
 of hope. 
 I fear she may "hang herself with her own 
 
 rope" ; 
 Any daughter may who thinks the world a 
 
 better place 
 Than her mother's home, where is hei 
 
 mother's face 
 Looking, ever looking for her return home. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 105 
 
 I mean not the daughter who out in the 
 
 world has her career, 
 Though she to her mother is equally dear. 
 I mean the daughter whose rightful place 
 Is with her mother and her mother's race, 
 Whose mother needs her, but who most 
 
 needs her mother. 
 Needs her as she needs no earthly other, 
 Whose mother would have given het 
 
 consent 
 To a right-going, but not to the going to 
 
 give vent 
 To anger and to spite. 
 Oh ! may such a daughter see aright 
 Soon after going is my prayer! 
 And always will be till I die and go There 
 
 (To My Daughter) 
 
 Oh, woe the day I at dawn awoke 
 To find you gone ! If the words I spoke 
 In chiding you the night before — in anger, 
 
 I know, — 
 Drove you away, won't you return and to 
 
 you let me show 
 How repentant I am, — How I love you, 
 
 who are of me a part ; 
 Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, heart 
 
 of my heart! 
 
106 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Of a perfect union a flower, 
 
 That I bore in a travailing hour, — 
 
 "Little knowing" a more agonizing time 
 
 could come, 
 I know (it could) now you are gone. . . . 
 
 Oh, return! 
 Return to the mother for whom your heart 
 
 does burn; 
 Return to my yearning breast. 
 Oh, return, precious one, and rest! 
 Return ere it be too late ! 
 For you, dear, I can wait 
 But a short while; for the heroic smile 
 I wear that tells my world, in pride. 
 That I let you go from my yearning side 
 Will not last — cannot, my dear. 
 As it hides a broken heart that within a 
 
 year 
 May beat its last. Oh, daughter, — come 
 
 home! 
 
 m 
 
 A DAUGHTER'S WAIL 
 
 One day in June you died, mother, 
 
 God, whom you loved, set your spirit free,* 
 
 One day in June you died, mother, 
 And now I am praying God will take me. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 107 
 
 You left me not alone, my mother, 
 To struggle with life and its pain ; 
 
 You left me not alone, my mother, 
 
 Others strive to help me, but almost in 
 vain. 
 
 Other help than a loving mother's, 
 
 Is not the help that's so dear; 
 Other help than a loving mother's, 
 
 One accepts; but oh, you were peer! 
 
 Fve the love of sisters and of a brother, 
 
 It helps, but cannot make up for thine; 
 
 Fve the love of a husband and son, deaf 
 
 mother, 
 
 It helps; but thou art gone, oh mother 
 
 mine. 
 
 Oh, why did you leave me, mother, 
 
 I need you so; you could soothe my pain! 
 
 Oh, why did you leave me, mother, 
 
 I want to feel your dear hand once again ! 
 
 Mother I the sympathy of others — 
 One sometimes feels its want, dear; 
 
 Mother ! the sympathy of others 
 Cannot stay the falling tear. 
 
108 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 The tears I have shed for you, mother, 
 Would make salt a fresh lake ; 
 
 The tears I have shed for you, mother, 
 Should attract God's pity for your dear 
 sake. 
 
 Oh, may He soon be merciful, 
 
 And call me Home, — He the Greet Seer— 
 Oh, may He soon be merciful, 
 
 He can see I'll not be needed here. 
 
 ****** 
 
 On the day in June you died, mother, 
 God knew the light of the world went 
 out for me; 
 On the day in June you died, mother, 
 He did almost let your poor child follow 
 thee. 
 
 And He would have quite but He knew 
 That your child would be needed here ; 
 
 And He would have quite but He knew— 
 Oh, of all seers. He is indeed the Greatest 
 Seer! 
 
 So I must be content, dear mother. 
 And wait God's time to fulfill; 
 
 So I must be content, dear mother, 
 And submit my rebellious heart to His 
 will. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 10ft 
 
 For He knows what is best, dear mother, 
 And in His own good time will take me 
 Home, to rest; 
 For He knows what is best, dear mother, 
 And when Fm good enough will let me 
 be folded again on your breast. 
 
 01 
 
 RESCUED 
 
 I struggled long in the waves of an unhappy 
 
 sea. 
 They buffeted me about, and all but 
 
 drowned me. . . . 
 Called to me Voices, from the Unknown, 
 Saying : come and hold as your own 
 Your acre in the land of happiness ; for thee 
 
 'twas made, 
 So be not afraid, be not afraid. 
 But I struggled on, ever falling, 
 Hearing the voices, ever calling: 
 The quicksands at last before me — 'neath 
 
 my feet . . . 
 Oh, I answered the voices, 'twould be so 
 
 sweet 
 
110 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 To reach your land of happiness, to sing 
 
 with the lark; 
 Here it is so cold, so drear, so dark ! 
 But how can I reach the firm, dry ground? 
 Much time passed and even the cycle of 
 
 years went round. . 
 No clear answer to my question came ; 
 One foot was in the quicksands, — I was 
 
 ready to blame 
 Anyone but myself — , I could not release it, 
 
 alone. 
 Suddenly a great light shone! 
 A poignantly sweet voice said : I will guidi 
 
 you to your own. 
 
 I looked up. Who did I see, you ask.. 
 
 I will at once the mystery unmask : 
 
 I saw Jesus crucified ! 
 
 I felt Him take me by the hand 
 
 And lead me to the happy land. 
 
 With His help, you see, my foot easily left 
 
 the quicksands. 
 And if I obey His clear commands, 
 It will never get caught again; 
 ril strive to obey Him, for I dearly love 
 
 Him who all that pain 
 SuflFered for me on His Cross. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 111 
 
 Oh, how I love Him who can away roll 
 All unhappy clouds from the vision of the 
 
 soul! 
 And lead everyone who takes Him for a 
 
 guide 
 To Paradise, by His dear side. 
 Oh, 'tis so sweet to kneel at Jesus' feet ! 
 I knelt and thanked God for sending to me, 
 
 in love, 
 His beloved and only Son, who will always 
 
 reign above 
 With His Father, in Heaven, 
 My sins to leaven. 
 
 m 
 
 THE BIRTH OF A SOUL 
 
 As the sun was rising red in the east 
 
 And most all the world was still in 
 slumber, 
 
 A robin sat on an ice-bound fence 
 And sang a song to his Maker. 
 
 He sang a song of thanks for the spring so 
 near. 
 
 And one for the spring that had gone ; 
 For all the joys in memory dear, 
 
 And those of the days to come. 
 
112 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 He flew away — and the ice-bound fence 
 Knew him (nor was itself known) no 
 more that spring — 
 
 Then in the fast approaching day 
 I, too, to my Maker did sing. 
 
 I sang a psalm of thanks for the gift of a 
 soul, new-born, 
 I thanked Him for keeping me through 
 the sick years so long, 
 For the joys of the life I once had known 
 and hoped again to know, 
 For a heart really awake to feel the joy in 
 a robin's song. 
 
 m 
 
 I SHALL BE YOUNG AGAIN 
 
 To my heart comes a pain. 
 When I hear once again, 
 The old songs ringing, 
 By sweet voices singing. 
 That I sang when I was young. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE lia 
 
 When I was young and gay, 
 With old friends at play, 
 No thought of sorrow — 
 Of the sad, sad tomorrow — 
 Came to mar my joy. 
 
 Oh, I knew not, in the old days, 
 
 There was a future all amaze 
 
 With trouble and care for me, my boy; 
 
 No, in the old days there was joy without 
 
 alloy : 
 Then I knew not trouble walked unhung. 
 
 There was no thought of sadness, 
 To mar my gladness, 
 When I was young and free — 
 As any blossom on any tree — 
 When I knew not my knell had rung. 
 
 But the (mental) pain does not stay; 
 
 Comes Will to conquer, and away 
 
 Goes all sadness and sorrow : 
 
 I wait for the glad tomorrow 
 
 When I shall again (in Heaven) be young. 
 
 In Heaven my spirit will again be free — 
 As any blossom on any tree ; 
 I shall walk (who walk not here) 
 On streets of gold, and no wolf — ^were 
 Of pain shall walk by my side. 
 
114 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 For in Heaven there is no wolf of pain, 
 To gnaw; there is no struggle, no strain; 
 There is no sorrow: 
 There is always a glad tomorrow, 
 In Heaven gladness will indeed with me 
 abide. 
 
 In Heaven gladness will with me abide, 
 
 In the great, eternal eventide; 
 
 There Jesus will meet me. 
 
 And with kindness will greet me. 
 
 And all my earth-pain will leaven. 
 
 For He died to save me. 
 
 Yes, He died to save me; 
 
 And upon the Cross purged my sin. 
 
 That I might sometime Heaven win: 
 
 (Oh what joy to live with Him in Heaven!) 
 
 And in Heaven loved ones gone before 
 Will welcome me at the Great Door ; 
 Will welcome me with shouts of joy: 
 With hymns that thrill indeed, my boy. 
 Angels will sing me to sleep. 
 
 They will let me sleep on my mother's 
 
 breast. 
 They will let me rest — rest — rest, 
 And strength to my limbs restore: 
 Mother and I shall never be parted more, 
 And I never again shall weep. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 115 
 
 CHRIST SAVED MY SOUL 
 
 I sold my soul for gold, 
 Quite sometime ago; 
 
 A bargain, I thought the selling then- 
 Now the things I bought are old, 
 And worn ; and, oh, woe ! 
 
 I wish for my soul back again. 
 
 But it can never come back to me, 
 I fear, though I do not know; 
 
 They tell me there is one 
 Who atoned for all sin on a tree, 
 The tree of crucifixion, long ago; 
 
 A dearly beloved Son. 
 
 But is it true? Can I believe? 
 Great joy it would be 
 To believe that I could be made whole! 
 Can it be for me a Christ doth grieve? — 
 For me bore a cross upon a tree, 
 To save my soul ? 
 
 i 
 Perhaps, I cannot really tell, 
 I didn't know, some time ago, I had a soul ; 
 
116 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 It must have been asleep. 
 Perhaps I know it now because sorrow has 
 
 come to dwell 
 With me, and remorse of my heart has taken 
 toll; 
 And my eyes know how to weep. 
 
 If I didn't know I had a soul some time ago, 
 Perhaps, oh, perhaps ! I didn't really sell 
 
 It, then, and can be made whole! 
 Perhaps — no ! there is a Christ ! Oh joy ! I 
 
 know! 
 In my heart the glad tidings rings, like a 
 bell: 
 He saved my soul ! 
 
 Christ, the dearly beloved, saved my soul; 
 It was for a sinner like me 
 
 He bled and died. 
 He, the dear Saviour, can make me whole, 
 Because on the tree 
 
 He was crucified. 
 
PART TWO 
 
 of 
 
 LOVE, FAITH AND APPRECIATION 
 
Dedicated to my son whose belief and 
 
 interest in my work has helped me 
 
 wonderfully though he is but eleven 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 121 
 
 BOYISH PATRIOTISM 
 
 My Red, White and Blue ! How I love you! 
 
 Naught shall ever be held above you ! 
 
 I'm waiting till Fm old enough to fight fof 
 
 you, 
 Waiting till Fm old enough to even die for 
 
 you! 
 Long may you wave o'er my land so true, 
 My dearly beloved Red, White and Blue ! 
 
 I do know why I love you ! 
 
 Dear flag of Red, White and Blue ! 
 
 It's because my great forefathers left you 
 
 to me 
 To wave o'er the land they, with their blood 
 
 made so free. 
 And because they so bravely fought and 
 
 died for you in the great and glorious 
 
 past, 
 I'll fight, perhaps die, for you if till I'm big 
 
 enough the present war should last. 
 
122 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 TO MY SON AND OTHER WOMEN'S 
 SONS 
 
 My son, I hear the sea, the sea ! 
 Calling; calling to you, to me! 
 It says come to my shore 
 And rest ; rest as in days of yore. 
 
 It says let your ideas soar high as my waves, 
 And if they go down as one my sea-side 
 
 laves. 
 Up with them again. Don't be discouraged. 
 
 You'll meet ups and downs in life ; 
 But be courageous, be prepared, and ever 
 
 look up in life's strife. 
 
 It says bring the autobiographies of self- 
 made men 
 
 And study them by my side — and then 
 
 Read the broken lives about you and see 
 wherein their owner's failed; 
 
 But most read your Bible — let your faith to 
 that be nailed. 
 
 It says in the lives of the greatest men self- 
 made 
 
 God was the Captain, Jesus the Pilot; so 
 they were of life not afraid; 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 123 
 
 They learned of Captain and Pilot that by 
 
 service to others, 
 And use of the golden rule, they could make 
 
 all men their brothers. 
 
 And you want all men your brothers to be, 
 
 my son ; sing 
 Of the brotherhood of man ! Let the song 
 
 ring 
 In your heart and mind forever ! For 'tis a 
 
 great thing, my son, 
 To feel you're to all men a brother, and that 
 
 one day you'll hear God say well 
 
 done! 
 
 And you will hear Him say well done 
 If you keep heart and mind pure, my son, 
 If you give true service to others 
 And treat all men as loved brothers. 
 
 Jesus said: "Let him who would be greatest 
 among you also serve." (Never forget this, 
 my son.) 
 
124 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 TO A BROOKLET 
 
 Dear, sparkling brooklet of my childhood, 
 Daughter of the deep, black brook 
 In the heart of the silent wood, 
 Where I from school played truant one well- 
 remembered day. 
 Oh, brooket, I want a long, long look 
 At you before I go away! 
 
 Well I remember the feel between my bare 
 toes of your water gurgling, 
 
 And the feel of your smooth stones — of some 
 a bridge I made. 
 
 Truly I was stealing— burg'ling ! 
 
 How often have I thought of the tree-tops 
 above you meeting. 
 
 How often of their welcome shade! 
 
 Oh, to again give you greeting! 
 
 I used to run fast to you, brooklet, I was 
 
 for you so eager! 
 But did I love you then in the way 
 I love you now when my life is of even 
 
 simple pleasures so meager? 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 12ft 
 
 Is it not the care and sorrow in the years oi 
 separation from you, brooklet so dear, 
 
 That makes me know I really love you 
 today ? — 
 
 That makes me want you here? 
 
 Yes, I would you were here, brooklet, at 
 
 my door! 
 I want to see you so — on you my fill to look. 
 I want to feel your clear, loved water once 
 
 more; 
 I want to handle your clean, clean stones, 
 
 your babbling I want to hear, 
 I want to do as I used to do — throw one of 
 
 your stones in that deep, black brook 
 Of which I always had a hidden fear. 
 
 One drowned in that brook — a boy. He 
 was skating 
 
 On the thin ice o'er the springy part. . . . 
 
 And after that I felt it was for me, too, 
 waiting. . . . 
 
 Now that I'm old I think of your mother- 
 brook as something sinister, 
 
 And it really hurts my heart 
 
 That it's related to you, brooklet so dear. 
 
126 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 I can't love that brook (your mother). I 
 
 know that when I used on it to try to 
 
 skate 
 In a way I was as eager to as were the other 
 
 children, 
 But I had on me, always, a fearing-fit and 
 
 would wait 
 To let them go first o'er the springy part; 
 
 then was bound with them to do an^ 
 
 dare. . . . 
 I've wondered since if it would have been 
 
 better had I drowned then — 
 When I knew not sorrow nor care. 
 
 I wouldn't mention that wonder if I didn't 
 
 know well, 
 That many a one has had a related wonder ; 
 And I say to each one No ! and I want this 
 
 ''No!" to ring clear as a bell, 
 It would not have been better ; for we each 
 
 have a mission here. 
 If you who read haven't yet found yours, 
 
 you will — even after many a blunder. 
 I feel I have found mine, brooklet so dear. 
 
 I think my mission is to send out heart- 
 songs to those who wait to receive 
 them; knowing 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 127 
 
 That even if they're sad songs they will 
 help (that they may not Tve no fear), 
 
 In their lives the sad songs make the great- 
 est showing. 
 
 And those waiting ones, brooklet, may know 
 more of woe than of weal. 
 
 Though you don't know it ; you don't know 
 anything — but you are so dear, 
 
 And, oh, how you make me feel! 
 
 A MIGHTY ARMY (1918) 
 
 Most loyal to their Uncle Sam 
 
 (And for his enemies not caring a flim- 
 flam!), 
 
 There are on this our Children's Day 
 
 About eighteen million children strong, 
 
 Who have been taught that as they work 
 and as they play 
 
 They must uphold truth and righteousness 
 against wrong; 
 
 They must keep themselves pure — not let 
 sin engross, 
 
 And live on a wheatless, meatless ration, 
 
 As they go marching under the flag of the 
 cross 
 
 Of their Sunday School and of their nation. 
 
128 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 TO CHILDREN 
 
 That wrath can be turned away 
 
 By a soft answer has been proved, 
 
 So when your parents are angry with you, 
 
 children, 
 If you speak gently to them, they will be 
 
 moved 
 To treat you more kindly, day by day, 
 Than if you had given a rough, angry 
 
 answer when 
 They asked of you an angry question 
 About something you had left undone and 
 
 forgot to mention. 
 
 To keep your temper, children, 
 
 I know it is hard, but the end will prove, 
 
 dears, 
 So much better for you than if you had 
 
 lost it; 
 For if you answer an angry question 
 
 angrily, then 
 Your angry parents will answer more 
 
 angrily still, dears, 
 And the matter may end in a whipping fof 
 
 you and a bit 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 129 
 
 Of the fault will be yours. I know every 
 
 child fears 
 A whipping (and rightly), so I have given 
 
 one way to avoid it. 
 
 GEORGE MAKES BELIEVE 
 
 I make believe I'm a soldier, 
 
 Fighting the Hun! 
 Wish a Hun could feel one of my blows, 
 
 He wouldn't think it fun. 
 
 I make believe I'm an aviator, 
 
 Soaring above Berlin ! 
 Wish the Kaiser could feel my bomb — 
 
 He'd soon answer for his sin. 
 
 I make believe I'm a submarine commander^ 
 Out the sea-pirate subs to chase! 
 
 I capture one or two? Well I guess! 
 It's a great race ! 
 
 I make believe I'm a marine — 
 
 I go Over the Top ! 
 I make the Boches flee 
 
 And fall, too, — Kerflop! 
 
130 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 I make believe I'm rich — 
 
 I feed all the poor in France ! 
 
 I g-ive the poor kids such a good time 
 They all want to dance! 
 
 I believe the last make believe 
 
 Is the best one of all — don't you? 
 
 I believe we're going to win the war! 
 Hurrah for our Red, White and Blue ! 
 
 HI 
 
 MOTHER'S ROCKING CHAIR 
 
 Where does it rest today, 
 The chair she left when she passed away? 
 Where is the chair that is so dear 
 Because it was hers — among mothers a 
 peer? 
 
 Does it rest in the same old spot 
 She kept it on near the old "what not?" 
 Or by careless hands has it been removed 
 To a strange room, among friends unproved? 
 
 Where is the dear old chair, 
 
 That rocked trouble and care 
 
 And sorrow away, — while on mother's 
 
 breast 
 I leaned for comfort and rest? 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 131 
 
 Oh, tell me, tell me now! 
 That I may seek it and tell it how 
 I love it because it is hers! Where? 
 Oh, where is that dear old chair? 
 
 I found it at last ; 
 Another knew its past, 
 And, with tender care, 
 Had placed the dear old chair. 
 
 But it was in a room too strange, 
 And felt beyond its range, — 
 In a grand reception room. 
 Where priceless orchids bloom ! 
 
 So, after a long, long look. 
 With loving hands I took 
 It up, and carried it away 
 To my kitchen bright, one day. 
 
 There it felt at home again. 
 
 And seemed to me to say — Pain, 
 
 Nor sorrow, nor any care, 
 
 Can be so bad while you've her dear chair. 
 
 So I knelt and said a prayer, 
 By that loved, armless chair. . . . 
 And mother's spirit hovered near me, 
 And I felt — good, you know, and free. 
 
132 VERSES OF LOVE 
 
 Free from Life's fitful fever! 
 
 Free for Time, the weaver, 
 
 To make of my life something good ! 
 
 I felt God my prayer had understood. 
 
 For my Mother There near the Throne 
 
 Had interpreted for her own. 
 
 And I felt God would be lenient with her 
 
 child— 
 That His Judgment would be mild. 
 
 Oh, my son, cherish that chair! 
 
 She was your mother, too. Prayer 
 
 For you she made, as in it she rocked you 
 
 to sleep 
 In your baby days whene'er you did weep. 
 
 Never paint that chair nor its scars 
 Seek to hide ; for each scar, though it mars 
 Tells a story to those who understand ! 
 Love that chair! and feel laid on you 
 Mother's loving (spirit) hand. 
 
 Keep it in a kitchen bright. 
 
 Near a "what-not" — and near a window, 
 
 light; 
 And near a stove in winter-time — 
 A little removed when summer changes the 
 
 clime. 
 
VERSES OF LOVE 138 
 
 Keep it neat and keep it clean, 
 Its sacredness never demean. 
 Keep it in your home and heart, 
 From that chair never part. 
 
 You will find as you grow older, 
 Even, yes, as you grow bolder, 
 That Mother's chair possesses charm 
 That is magic to help keep you from harm. 
 
 For as you look upon it, you will see 
 
 All the goodness of her life rise up before 
 
 thee; 
 And you'll know she looks from Heaven 
 
 upon you, my dear, 
 And you'll want her to be proud of you, my 
 
 dear. 
 
 And out in the world you will go. 
 And to all who love you you will show 
 The stuff of which you are made, dear, 
 The best that is in you, "indade," dear. 
 
 Then keep, oh keep, that dear old chair ! 
 By it kneel to say your evening prayer. 
 And think of Mother (grandma to you) and 
 
 think of me ; 
 And keep, oh keep, your spirit free!