Classic Poem

Babette, this was a luminous day
(In days that will mean much to you);
For Marshal Joffre passed my way,
And smiled, and spoke a word or two.

And there was in his granite face,
And in, anon, his kindly glance,
Something that glorified the place
And woke, as with a wand, Romance.

Time will unknot, with fingers cool,
The present tangled ball of yarn,
And you, Babette, a girl at school,
Will read the story of the Marne;

Learn how, beneath a pall of smoke,
Affrighted Freedom clutched her breast;
And how the Horror halted … broke …
God's mercy there made manifest.

And looking from your schoolgirl task—
The study of a great campaign—
Perhaps, in wondering voice, you'll ask,
“And did you once see Joffre plain?”