Memorial Day, 1916
Full fifty years have passed away,
Yea, fifty years, have day by day
Fulfilled the laws of destiny
And passed into eternity.
Hear you the drums throughout the land?
Old drums—which know the master hand,
Whose fervent practice for this day,
Has swept the fifty years away?
These souls—whose darkened chambers keep,
The key where memories lie deep;
Are breaking all the bounds this day,
To live this thirtieth of May.
With tattered flags and dream-fired gait,
(Impatient if the line should wait),
Come men who fifty years ago
Were flushed with manhood's healthy glow.
Not less today; but fifty years
Have brought conditions fraught with tears,
For some are poor and all are old;
But hearts as true, as brave, as bold
Beat underneath those coats of blue,
As when in youth they dared to do
The bidding of their souls—for right.
How bravely now they face the night.
Do we remember why they fought?
Have we from their vision caught?
Does Liberty stand out as clear?
Is Freedom to our hearts as dear?
If not, this thinning line of blue
Proclaims us to our trust untrue.
If we forget their sacrifice,
We stand disgraced before their eyes.
Let Freedom true our land embrace,
That we, like them, the grave may face;
In conscious pride of work well done,
To keep Old Glory in the sun.
- WILLIAM NAUNS RICKS.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1916, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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