Classic Poem

LINES ON THE LAUNCHING OF THE " NEWBURGH, " SEPTEMBER 2, 1918

O Ship of Liberty!
Our hearts go forth with thee.

Not with the thunder of guns
Shalt thou assault the Huns;
Not through the winter drear
Shalt thou keep vigil clear
Where lies the caged foe,
His fleet a futile show;
Not thine to leap the wave
With instinct of the brave,
Hunting the hidden craft
That aims the coward shaft.

No; but not less thine aid
To Freedom's cause is made.
Across the winter waste
Thy eager breath shall haste
To bear our heart-sent food
To Freedom's brotherhood;
To take thy share of souls
That Freedom war-ward rolls —
The strange, new tide that breaks
On France's shore and shakes
From their foundation stones
The tottering Teuton thrones.

O Ship of Liberty!
Our hearts go forth with thee.