Page:Fifes and Drums, Poems of America at War, Vigilantes, 1917.djvu/103

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FIFES AND DRUMS
97


Glad were they for the kindly word, but the helping hand is best.

Follow the guns in France, lads, follow the guns in France!
Take with those on the foremost line the brave man's fighting chance;
There's a people here behind you, whose dreaming hours are past,
Who will send you forth with a swelling heart, and back you to the last.

Fight for the world's defence, lads, as your fathers fought before,
For truth and right against ruthless might, for freedom's cause once more!
Though the way be long and the hazard strong, for glory or mischance,
Up with the flag in France, lads, up with the flag in France!

Marion Couthouy Smith.