Page:Fifes and Drums, Poems of America at War, Vigilantes, 1917.djvu/21

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A rumor that beneath us crawls the hostile worm of hate. . ..

It may be so! But I believe that now

Each man can disavow

Old enmities, and, loyal to the end,

Count it his privilege to be his country's friend;

Count it his right to suffer for the land

That hailed him, and stretched forth a welcoming hand When he, heart-broken, from an alien shore,

Came as a stranger to our open door.

America, beware!

Lest, knowing the red burden you must bear,

You falter now! We pray for Peace—white Peace;

Yet if soft days must cease,

We shall go forth, fearless, and as one,

Until our task for Liberty is done.

Charles Hanson Towne.