Eighth Grade
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
IN FLANDERS FIELD (An Answer)
The challenge in the first poem is taken up by another soldier, who assures the dead sleeping in Flanders Field that the living will do their part. (See page 46)
In Flanders fields, the cannon boom
And fitful flashes light the gloom,
While up above, like eagles, fly
The fierce destroyers of the sky;
With stains the earth wherein you lie
Is redder than the poppy bloom,
In Flanders fields.
Sleep on, ye brave. The shrieking shell,
The quaking trench, the startled yell,
The fury of the battle hell
Shall wake you not, for all is well.
Sleep peacefully, for all is well.
Your faming torch aloft we bear,
With burning heart an oath we swear
To keep the faith, to fight it through
To crush the foe or sleep with you
In Flanders fields.
-C. B. Galbreath
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