John Jay Chapman
Ode on the Sailing of Our Troops for France
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About the print version:
Publisher: North American Review
Date:1917
Note: Reprint. Originally published: North American Review, November, 1917
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ODE ON THE SAILING OF
OUR TROOPS FOR FRANCE
By
JOHN JAY CHAPMAN
REPRINTED FROMTHE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW FOR NOVEMBER, 1917
ODE
ON THE SAILING OF OUR TROOPS FOR FRANCE
Dedicated to President Wilson
BY JOHN JAY CHAPMAN
Go fight for Freedom, Warriors of the West!
At last the word is spoken: Go!
Lay on for Liberty. 'Twas at her breast
The tyrant aimed his blow;
And ye were wounded with the rest
In Belgium's overthrow.
The anguish of the night is past,
The months of torment, when the roar
Of distant battles rolled against our shore,
Each summons sounding louder than the last;
And in the surge and swell
We heard the deep vibrations of a bell,
The tongue of Fate, that tolling on the blast,
Repeated o'er and o'er
"Awake! your horoscope is cast;
The Old World and the New shall live apart no more.
Awake! the Future claims you. Europe's soul
Hangs in the balance, and the gods contrive
That without her thou never canst be whole,
Nor she without thee save her soul alive.
"Like to the sleeping hero dost thou lie,
Whose father's gear the nymphs beneath a mound
Concealed, while centaurs watched his infancy
Till honor's great occasion should be found.
Awake! the virgins perish, monsters rage;
The earth is mastered by Hell's Overlord;
Accept the manhood of thine heritage:
Behold the shield, the sandals and the sword."
The dying thunder of the ocean's voice
Left music on the air. The sleeper stirred,
As one who in a dream must make a choice
Of pleasure ...
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