I Come Singing

H. Thompson Rich

TWO SONNETS

               I COME SINGING
                        Youth Answers the Call
Not with the fear or the hot, swift fever of war,
But with the calm, sure courage of the right
I come-singing of youth's far-visioned sight,
The dreams of youth so well worth dying for.
Not with the dread of one who finds no more
Than the guns' rumble and the bloody fight,
And ruin and the long sleep under the night:
Adventure lures me like an open door!

I come as one who has found glorious waking
And goes supremely girded to the foe,
Knowing my songs have power to lay him low.
I come as one upon whose lips are breaking
Snatches of melodies beyond unmaking,
And in whose soul unalterable rhythms flow.