| |
| Qui vive? Who passes by up there? | |
| Who moves—what stirs in the startled air? | |
| What whispers, thrills, exults up there? | |
| Qui vive? | |
| “The Flags of France.” | 5 |
| |
| What wind on a windless night is this, | |
| That breathes as light as a lover’s kiss, | |
| That blows through the night with bugle notes, | |
| That streams like a pennant from a lance, | |
| That rustles, that floats? | 10 |
| “The Flags of France.” | |
| |
| What richly moves, what lightly stirs, | |
| Like a noble lady in a dance, | |
| When a men’s eyes are in love with hers | |
| And needs must follow? | 15 |
| “The Flags of France.” | |
| |
| What calls to the heart—and the heart has heard, | |
| Speaks, and the soul has obeyed the word, | |
| Summons, and all the years advance, | |
| And the world goes forward with France—with France? | 20 |
| Who called? | |
| “The Flags of France.” | |
| |
| What flies—a glory, through the night, | |
| While the legions stream—a line of light, | |
| And men fall to the left and fall to the right, | 25 |
| But they fall not? | |
| “The Flags of France.” | |
| |
| Qui vive? Who comes? What approaches there? | |
| What soundless tumult, what breath in the air | |
| Takes the breath in the throat, the blood from the heart? | 30 |
| In a flame of dark, to the unheard beat | |
| Of an unseen drum and fleshless feet, | |
| Without glint of barrel or bayonets’ glance, | |
| They approach—they come. Who comes? (Hush! Hark!) | |
| “Qui vive?” | 35 |
| “The Flags of France.” | |
| |
| Uncover the head and kneel—kneel down, | |
| A monarch passes, without a crown, | |
| Let the proud tears fall but the heart beat high: | |
| The Greatest of All is passing by, | 40 |
| On its endless march in the endless Plan: | |
| “Qui vive?” | |
| “The Spirit of Man.” | |
| |
| “O Spirit of Man, pass on! Advance!” | |
| And they who lead, who hold the van? | 45 |
| Kneel down! | |
The Flags of France.
Paris, 1917 | |
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