A Treasury of War Poetry Part 4

FRANCE

Because for once the sword broke in her hand, The words she spoke seemed perished for a s.p.a.ce; All wrong was brazen, and in every land The tyrants walked abroad with naked face.

The waters turned to blood, as rose the Star Of evil Fate denying all release.

The rulers smote, the feeble crying "War!"

The usurers robbed, the naked crying "Peace!"

And her own feet were caught in nets of gold, And her own soul profaned by sects that squirm, And little men climbed her high seats and sold Her honour to the vulture and the worm.

And she seemed broken and they thought her dead, The Overmen, so brave against the weak.

Has your last word of sophistry been said, O cult of slaves? Then it is hers to speak.

Clear the slow mists from her half-darkened eyes, As slow mists parted over Valmy fell, As once again her hands in high surprise Take hold upon the battlements of h.e.l.l.

_Cecil Chesterton_

THE NAME OF FRANCE

Give us a name to fill the mind With the s.h.i.+ning thoughts that lead mankind, The glory of learning, the joy of art,-- A name that tells of a splendid part In the long, long toil and the strenuous fight Of the human race to win its way From the feudal darkness into the day Of Freedom, Brotherhood, Equal Right,-- A name like a star, a name of light-- I give you _France!_

Give us a name to stir the blood With a warmer glow and a swifter flood,-- A name like the sound of a trumpet, clear, And silver-sweet, and iron-strong, That calls three million men to their feet, Ready to march, and steady to meet The foes who threaten that name with wrong,-- A name that rings like a battle-song.

I give you _France!_

Give us a name to move the heart With the strength that n.o.ble griefs impart, A name that speaks of the blood outpoured To save mankind from the sway of the sword,-- A name that calls on the world to share In the burden of sacrificial strife Where the cause at stake is the world's free life And the rule of the people everywhere,-- A name like a vow, a name like a prayer.

I give you _France!_

_Henry van d.y.k.e_

VIVE LA FRANCE!

Franceline rose in the dawning gray, And her heart would dance though she knelt to pray, For her man Michel had holiday, Fighting for France.

She offered her prayer by the cradle-side, And with baby palms folded in hers she cried: "If I have but one prayer, dear, crucified Christ--save France!

"But if I have two, then, by Mary's grace, Carry me safe to the meeting-place, Let me look once again on my dear love's face, Save him for France!"

She crooned to her boy: "Oh, how glad he'll be, Little three-months old, to set eyes on thee!

For, 'Rather than gold, would I give,' wrote he, 'A son to France.'

"Come, now, be good, little stray _sauterelle_, For we're going by-by to thy papa Michel, But I'll not say where for fear thou wilt tell, Little pigeon of France!

"Six days' leave and a year between!

But what would you have? In six days clean, Heaven was made," said Franceline, "Heaven and France."

She came to the town of the nameless name, To the marching troops in the street she came, And she held high her boy like a taper flame Burning for France.

Fresh from the trenches and gray with grime, Silent they march like a pantomime; "But what need of music? My heart beats time-- _Vive la France!_"

His regiment comes. Oh, then where is he?

"There is dust in my eyes, for I cannot see,-- Is that my Michel to the right of thee, Soldier of France?"

Then out of the ranks a comrade fell,-- "Yesterday--'t was a splinter of sh.e.l.l-- And he whispered thy name, did thy poor Michel, Dying for France."

The tread of the troops on the pavement throbbed Like a woman's heart of its last joy robbed, As she lifted her boy to the flag, and sobbed: "_Vive la France!_"

_Charlotte Holmes Crawford_

THE SOUL OF JEANNE D'ARC

_She came not into the Presence as a martyred saint might come, Crowned, white-robed and adoring, with very reverence dumb,--_

_She stood as a straight young soldier, confident, gallant, strong, Who asks a boon of his captain in the sudden hush of the drum._

She said: "Now have I stayed too long in this my place of bliss, With these glad dead that, comforted, forget what sorrow is Upon that world whose stony stairs they climbed to come to this.

"But lo, a cry hath torn the peace wherein so long I stayed, Like a trumpet's call at Heaven's wall from a herald unafraid,-- A million voices in one cry, '_Where is the Maid, the Maid?_'

"I had forgot from too much joy that olden task of mine, But I have heard a certain word shatter the chant divine, Have watched a banner glow and grow before mine eyes for sign.

"I would return to that my land flung in the teeth of war, I would cast down my robe and crown that pleasure me no more, And don the armor that I knew, the valiant sword I bore.

"And angels militant shall fling the gates of Heaven wide, And souls new-dead whose lives were shed like leaves on war's red tide Shall cross their swords above our heads and cheer us as we ride,

"For with me goes that soldier saint, Saint Michael of the sword, And I shall ride on his right side, a page beside his lord, And men shall follow like swift blades to reap a sure reward.

"Grant that I answer this my call, yea, though the end may be The naked shame, the biting flame, the last, long agony; I would go singing down that road where f.a.gots wait for me.

"Mine be the fire about my feet, the smoke above my head; So might I glow, a torch to show the path my heroes tread; _My Captain! Oh, my Captain, let me go back!_" she said.

_Theodosia Garrison_

O GLORIOUS FRANCE