<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Soldier's Folks at Home</h1><p><span class="smallcaps">From The Christian Herald</span></p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">WE often sit upon the porch on sultry August nights, </p><p class="line">When fireflies out upon the lawn are soft enchanted lights</p><p class="line">From Fairyland; when, far away, a vagrant nightingale</p><p class="line">Is sobbing from a bursting heart his tragic untold tale.</p><p class="line">We often sit upon the porch, quite silently, for we</p><p class="line">Are seeing golden wonder-worlds that no one else may see.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">My mother sighs; I feel her hand upon my ruffled hair, </p><p class="line">The while I know she thinks of one, of one who is not there....</p><p class="line">And grandma, with her down-bent head, is dreaming of the day</p><p class="line">When to the strains of "Dixie Land" her sweetheart marched away.</p><p class="line">And brother stares into the dusk, with vivid eyes aflame,</p><p class="line">And hears the stirring call to arms, to battle and to fame!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">My little sister, half asleep, holds tight against her breast </p><p class="line">A battered doll with china eyes that she herself has dressed;</p><p class="line">And baby brother holds my hand, and thinks of cakes and toys</p><p class="line">That grow on trees in some fair land for perfect little boys.</p><p class="line">And auntie holds her head erect, and seems to dare the fates</p><p class="line">With eyes that hold the glowing look of one who hopes and waits.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We often sit upon the porch on sultry August nights</p><p class="line">When fireflies out upon the lawn are vague enchanted lights,</p><p class="line">And no one speaks, for each one dreams and plans, perhaps, and strays,</p><p class="line">A wanderer through years to come, a ghost through bygone days,</p><p class="line">And as the stars far in the sky come shining softly through,</p><p class="line">My heart and soul are all one prayer--one silver prayer for you</p></div></body></html> · Great War