For whom these fables? Are they not for us?
Are there not other serpents that demand
The firm Herculean grasp? And other fires
Mad with destructive spirit half subdued?
Must Wisdom's torch consume a hundred hills
That it may give us light to see our path
Into peace-haunted valleys?


Land of ours!
Not less they love thee who must chide the faults
Of those that serve thee. Be thou wise as strong —
Justice to-day thy fortress of to-morrow;
Better than battleships thine own Good Will;
The bond of all thy children Equal Laws,
Their pride thine Honor. Not unto thyself
Alone thou livest but to Space and Time!
Lead thou thy leaders, lead they not aright,
That, seeing clearly where our fathers failed,
We leave no legacy of wanton strife
As bones of prey to tempt the beast in Man,
Lest, surfeited with carnage, sadder days
Shall scorn our ashes, and impute to us
The squandered blood of Gettysburgs to come.