Page:Fifes and Drums, Poems of America at War, Vigilantes, 1917.djvu/65



for a flaunted flag, O God,

Not for affronted power,

Not for a scurrile hope of gain,

Not for the pride of an hour,

Not for vengeance, hot in the heart,

Now do we swing to war;

Not for a weak mistrust lest peace

Is a shame strong men abhor.

Not for glory—for oh, to kill

Should be a sacred wrath;

Not for these! But to war on war

And sweep it from earth's path!

Patient has been our creed, till now,

Patient, too, our hope,