<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">To My Country</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">One</span> told me he had heard it whispered: "Lo!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The hour has come when Europe, desperate</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">With sudden war and terrible swift hate,</p><p class="line">Rocks like a reed beneath the mighty blow.</p><p class="line">Therefore shall we, in this her time of woe,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Profit and prosper, since her ships of state</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Go down in darkness. Kind, thrice kind is Fate,</p><p class="line">Leaving our land secure, our grain to grow!"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">America! They blaspheme and they lie</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Who say these are the voices of your sons!</p><p class="line">In this foul night, when nations sink and die,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">No thought is here save for the fallen ones</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Who, underneath the ruin of old thrones,</p><p class="line">Suffer and bleed, and tell the world good-by!</p></div><p class="byline">-- Charles Hanson Towne.</p></body></html> · Great War