Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RED CROSS SPIRIT SPEAKS by JOHN FINLEY (1874-)

First Line: WHEREVER WAR WITH ITS RED WOES
Last Line: OF WAR'S RED LINE.
Subject(s): RED CROSS; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;
WHEREVER war, with its red woes,
Or flood, or fire, or famine goes,
There, too, go I;
If earth in any quarter quakes
Or pestilence its ravage makes,
Thither I fly.

I kneel behind the soldier's trench,
I walk 'mid shambles' smear and stench,
The dead I mourn;
I bear the stretcher and I bend
O'er Fritz and Pierre and Jack to mend
What shells have torn.

I go wherever men may dare,
I go wherever woman's care
And love can live,
Wherever strength and skill can bring
Surcease to human suffering,
Or solace give.

I helped upon Haldora's shore;
With Hospitaller Knights I bore
The first red cross;
I was the Lady of the Lamp;
I saw in Solferino's camp
The crimson loss.

I am your pennies and your pounds;
I am your bodies on their rounds
Of pain afar;
I am @3you,@1 doing what you would
If you were only where you could—
Your avatar.

The cross which on my arm I wear,
The flag which o'er my breast I bear,
Is but the sign
Of what you 'd sacrifice for him
Who suffers on the hellish rim
Of war's red line.



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