You dare to say with perjured lips,
“We fight to make the ocean free”?
You, whose black trail of butchered ships
Bestrews the bed of every sea
Where German submarines have wrought
Their horrors! Have you never thought, —
What you call freedom, men call piracy!
Unnumbered ghosts that haunt the wave
Where you have murdered, cry you down;
And seamen whom you would not save,
Weave now in weed-grown depths a crown
Of shame for your imperious head, —
A dark memorial of the dead, —
Women and children whom you left to drown.
Nay, not till thieves are set to guard
The gold, and corsairs called to keep
O’er peaceful commerce watch and ward,
And wolves to herd the helpless sheep,
Shall men and women look to thee —
Thou ruthless Old Man of the Sea —
To safeguard law and freedom on the deep!
In nobler breeds we put our trust:
The nations in whose sacred lore
The “Ought” stands out above the “Must,”
And Honor rules in peace and war.
With these we hold in soul and heart,
With these we choose our lot and part,
Till Liberty is safe on sea and shore.
(Henry Van Dyke)
More Poetry from Henry Van Dyke:
Henry Van Dyke Poems based on Topics: Man, War & Peace, Soul, Mind, Cry, Liberty & Freedom, Gold, Woman, Thought & Thinking, Trust- Vera (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
- The Builders (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
- The Toiling Of Felix (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
- Texas (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
- Who Follow The Flag (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
- Eight Echoes From The Poems Of August Angellier (Henry Van Dyke Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, War & Peace Poems, Cry Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Gold Poems, Woman Poems, Liberty & Freedom Poems, Trust PoemsBased on Keywords: depths, nations, nobler, rules, drown, weave, lore, haunt, law, trail, german