Poems (Kennedy)/Columbia's Toll

by Sara Beaumont Kennedy

COLUMBIA'S TOLL

(JUNE 5, 1917)

IN the wilderness where Sinai
 Looked away o'er shifting sand
And the Red Sea spent its thunder
 God gave Moses this command:

"Number all the people for me,
 List them by each tribal name—
All the men from twenty upward
 For my warrior host I claim.

"All the youngest and the strongest—
 They are mine by my decree;
Set their standards where they gather—
 They shall fight to make men free."

Thus in that far day was taken
 That first count of men of war,
In the desert 'neath the shadow
 Of the Mountain of the Law.

******

Now, through eons comes the echo
 Of that old Mosaic quest—
Voice of our loved country calling:
 "Give me share of all your best—

"Count me out a Guard of Honor,
 Young of heart and legions long,
Men who'll dare the heights of danger
 Singing clear my Freedom song—

"Men who'll set my unstained standard
 Where the victory beacons glance
In that parliament of banners
 On the reddened fields of France—

"Men who'll fight for equal justice
 And the brotherhood it brings
'Till, upon each trodden people,
 Falls the twilight of the kings.

"Falls that twilight, and the burden
 Of the tyrants' rule shall cease,
And the hilltops of the nations
 Whiten with the dawn of peace.

"Count me out this Guard of Honor
 From your bravest and your best,
Number them as God commanded
 In the old Mosaic quest."

******

So we take that toll of manhood,
 Counting out our brave and strong—
Take them to your heart, Columbia,
 They will sing your Freedom Song!