They March through the Streets of Paris

America . ..

Can it be, my country, that in you

The dream men dared.not dream, is true?

I know not what the old men seek:

Youth !-steadily tramping, eight abreast,

The Rainbow Division, "Pershing's Crusaders'-marching

Past the arcades of the Rue de Rivoli:

They go to defense of unknown Picardy.

The black-garbed throng and the men in olive-drab, passing ;

'The acclaim and-deeper still for those who hear-the song

Of silent voices, rising ; the birth of a new music in the world,

Brought by the men of many nations

Come from a new home wrought in a new-made land.

O France, again the debt-but this debt greater ;

For to us you bring, after yourself have bled,

The will to suffering-not in a selfish cause.

I know not what the old men seek :

Never to them, always to Youth, you speak,

By being-France!

We come, youth of America, youth dedicate!-

A nation among nations, humble before the hope

Of freedom, proudly to create

Our own tradition there-in Picardy.