Cloyd Head. They March through the Streets of Paris. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

They March through the Streets of Paris

By Cloyd Head


From “War Sequence” AMERICA …
Can it be, my country, that in you
The dream men dared not dream, is true?
I know not what the old men seek:
Youth!—steadily tramping, eight abreast,	5
The Rainbow Division, “Pershing’s Crusaders”—marching
Past the arcades of the Rue de Rivoli:
They go to defense of unknown Picardy.

The black-garbed throng and the men in olive-drab, passing;
The acclaim and—deeper still for those who hear—the song	10
Of silent voices, rising; the birth of a new music in the world,
Brought by the men of many nations
Come from a new home wrought in a new-máde land.

O France, again the debt—but this debt greater;
For to us you bring, after yourself have bled,	15
The will to suffering—not in a selfish cause.
I know not what the old men seek:
Never to them, always to Youth, you speak,
By being—France!
We come, youth of America, youth dedicate!—	20
A nation among nations, humble before the hope
Of freedom, proudly to create
Our own tradition there—in Picardy.