<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head"><em>Qui Vive?</em></h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><em>Qui vive?</em> Who passes by up there?</p><p class="line">Who moves -- what stirs in the startled air?</p><p class="line">What whispers, thrills, exults up there?</p><p class="line"><em>Qui vive?</em></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What wind on a windless night is this,</p><p class="line">That breathes as light as a lover's kiss,</p><p class="line">That blows through the night with bugle notes,</p><p class="line">That streams like a pennant from a lance,</p><p class="line">That rustles, that floats?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What richly moves, what lightly stirs,</p><p class="line">Like a noble lady in a dance,</p><p class="line">When all men's eyes are in love with hers</p><p class="line">And needs must follow?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What calls to the heart -- and the heart has heard,</p><p class="line">Speaks, and the soul has obeyed the word,</p><p class="line">Summons, and all the years advance,</p><p class="line">And the world goes forward with France -- with France?</p><p class="line">Who called?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What flies -- a glory, through the night,</p><p class="line">While the legions stream -- a line of light,</p><p class="line">And men fall to the left and fall to the right,</p><p class="line">But <em>they</em> fall not?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><em>Qui vive?</em> Who comes? What approaches there?</p><p class="line">What soundless tumult, what breath in the air</p><p class="line">Takes the breath in the throat, the blood from the heart?</p><p class="line">In a flame of dark, to the unheard beat</p><p class="line">Of an unseen drum and fleshless feet,</p><p class="line">Without glint of barrel or bayonets' glance,</p><p class="line">They approach -- they come. <em>Who</em> comes? (Hush! Hark!)</p><p class="line"><em>"Qui vive?"</em></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Flags of France."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Uncover the head and kneel -- kneel down,</p><p class="line">A monarch passes, without a crown,</p><p class="line">Let the proud tears fall but the heart beat high:</p><p class="line">The Greatest of All is passing by,</p><p class="line">On its endless march in the endless Plan:</p><p class="line"><em>"Qui vive?"</em></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"The Spirit of Man."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"O Spirit of Man, pass on! Advance!"</p><p class="line">And they who lead, who hold the van?</p><p class="line">Kneel down!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">The Flags of France.</p></div><p class="byline">Grace Ellery Channing</p><p> Paris, 1917 </p></body></html> · Great War