YOU, who sought the great adventure That the blind fates held in store, Have beyond our mortal censure Passed forever, evermore; Passed beyond all joy or sighing, Blush of eve or flush of dawn, Who beneath the sod are lying In the Forest of Argonne. What it was that lured and led you Who shall venture, who shall say? From the valley of the dead you Speak not, question as we may; Yet somehow our thoughts have flowed to The remembrance of the debt That our land had so long owed to Rochambeau and Lafayette. You, bereft of earthly raiment, Brave as they and theirs were brave, Have made sacrificial payment For whate'er their valor gave. As they came, with aid unsparing, When both fears and foes were rife, So you went with dreams of daring And the offering of your life. We, who cling to freedom, hail you, Son of never vanquished sires, Knowing courage did not fail you When you faced the battle fires; Knowing that no vaunt of Vandal Daunted your determined aim, Though your breath failed as a candle 'Neath a flash of morning flame. All the brown Atlantic beaches From far Fundy to the Keys, All the billowy prairie reaches Sweeping westward toward the seas, Mount Katahdin and Mount Rainier, Lake and river great of girth, Greet your spirit, bold disdainer Of the tyrannies of earth! Thrones shall crumble, kings shall perish, Howsoe'er their legions strive, But the liberties men cherish, They shall triumph and survive. You, blithe wraith, shall be beholder Of the flowering of that dawn, Though your pulseless clay may moulder In the Forest of Argonne! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: OSCAR HUMMEL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TO A CONTEMPORARY BUNKSHOOTER by CARL SANDBURG ROMANCE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 52. YA HAKK by EDWIN ARNOLD PRAYER by ANTON ALEXANDER VON AUERSPERG |