| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | I Come Singing | | By H. Thompson Rich |
| | Youth Answers the Call
NOT with the fear or the hot, swift fever of war, | |
| But with the calm, sure courage of the right | |
| I come—singing of youth’s far-visioned sight, | |
| The dreams of youth so well worth dying for. | |
| Not with the dread of one who finds no more | 5 |
| Than the guns’ rumble and the bloody fight, | |
| And ruin and the long sleep under the night: | |
| Adventure lures me like an open door! | |
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| I come as one who has found glorious waking | |
| And goes supremely girded to the foe, | 10 |
| Knowing my songs have power to lay him low. | |
| I come as one upon whose lips are breaking | |
| Snatches of melodies beyond unmaking, | |
| And in whose soul unalterable rhythms flow. | | | | |
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