Classic Poem

We , who have loved the France of old,
The France that gave us Lafayette,
Now deeper still our poignant debt,
And tenderer ten thousandfold.

Our youth has shed its blood for you,
Because your valor wrung the heart.
You, who have borne so brave a part,
You builded better than you knew.

If we of alien race and tongue
Shall face, once more, the God of War,
What you have been and what you are
Shall be the flame before us flung.—

Your gallant heart shall strengthen ours
To reach unswerving toward the goal,
Through you, perchance, a new-born soul,
Unrecognized, within us flowers.

Ah! France, who gave us Lafayette
When we were scarred as you are now,
Before your wounds we humbly bow,
And bless you for our deeper debt!