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Yanks : $b A.E.F. verse: originally published in "The Stars and Stripes," the official newspaper of the American expeditionary forcesVarious

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Yanks : $b A.E.F. verse: originally published in "The Stars and Stripes," the official newspaper of the American expeditionary forces

Name: Yanks : $b A.E.F. verse: originally published in "The Stars and Stripes," the official newspaper of the American expeditionary forces
Author: Various

Various

American poetry -- 20th century; World War, 1914-1918 -- Poetry

Some day, when screaming shells are but a dream
              That vanished with the dawn of better days,
            When Love and Faith are really what they seem,
              And Treachery is lost in fleeting haze;
            When each sweet day recalls a noble deed,
              Wherein a blinding flash plays not a part,
            And Truth at last has sown the godly seed
              That springs to Trust and Joy in every heart;
            Some day, though it be farther down the years
              Than ever mortal gazed or planned ahead,
            When we have made them pay for all your tears,
              And squared accounts for comrades who have bled;
            When we can feel that storms of Greed and Lust
              Will nevermore engulf our skies of blue;
            When you can live and know each sacred trust—
              And not till then—will we come back to you.
                              Corp. HOWARD H. HERTY,
                                        1st Army Hq. Reg.




                             TO A DOUGHBOY


              I watched you slog down a dusty pike,
              One of many so much alike,
              With a spirit keen as a breath of flame,
              Ready to rise and ready to strike
              Whenever the fitting moment came;
              Just a kid with a boyish grin,
              Waiting the order to hustle in
              And lend your soul to the battle thrill,
              Unafraid of the battle din
              Or the guns that crashed from a hidden hill.

              I watched you leap to the big advance,
              With a smile for Fate and its fighting chance,
              Sweeping on till the charge was done;
              I saw your grave on a slope of France
              Where you fell asleep when the fight was won.
              Just a kid who had earned his rest
              With a rifle and helmet above his breast,
              Who proved, in answer to German jeers,
              That a kid can charge a machine gun nest
              Without the training of forty years.

              I watched the shadows drifting by
              As gray dusk came from a summer’s sky,
              And lost winds came from beyond the fight,
              And I seemed to hear them croon and sigh:
              “Sleep, little dreamer, sleep tonight;
              Sleep tonight, for I’m bringing you
              A prayer and a dream from the home you knew;
              And I’ll take them word of the big advance,
              And how you fought till the game was through,
              And you fell asleep in the dust of France.”




                            LIL’ PAL O’ MINE


                 Just a wee remembrance
                   Of a little child so fair,
                 From Dad, who coaxed himself away
                   To leave you over there.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Yanks : $b A.E.F. verse: originally published in "The Stars and Stripes," the official newspaper of the American expeditionary forces

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