No doubt you would provide far better "copy"
To the industrious drivers of the quill
If you were more emotional and sloppy,
More richly dowered with journalistic skill;
To make despatches blossom like the poppy
You never have essayed and never will;
In short, you couldn't earn a pound a week
As a reporter on _The Daily Shriek_.
Frugal in speech, yet more than once impelled
To utter words of confidence and cheer,
Whereat some dismal publicists rebelled
As premature, ill-founded, insincere--
Words none the less triumphantly upheld
By Victory's verdict, resonantly clear,
Words that inspired misgiving in the foe
Because you do not prophesy--you _know_;
Steadfast and calm, unmoved by blame or praise,
By local checks or Fortune's strange caprices,
You dedicate laborious nights and days
To shattering the Hun machine to pieces;
And howsoe'er at times the battle sways
The Army's trust in your command increases;
Patient in preparation, swift in deed,
We find in you the leader that we need.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53