 | Joaquin Miller's Poems |  |
ON THE FIRING LINE
For glory? For good? For fortune, or for fame?
Why, ho, for the front where the battle is on!
Leave the rear to the dolt, the lazy, the lame;
Go forward as ever the valiant have gone.
Whether city or field, whether mountain or mine,
Go forward, right on for the firing line!
Why, ho, for the front where the battle is on!
Leave the rear to the dolt, the lazy, the lame;
Go forward as ever the valiant have gone.
Whether city or field, whether mountain or mine,
Go forward, right on for the firing line!
Whether newsboy or plowboy or cowboy or clerk,
Fight forward; be ready, be steady, be first;
Be fairest, be bravest, be best at your work;
Exult and be glad; dare to hunger, to thirst,
As David, as Alfred—let dogs skulk and whine—
There is room but for men on the firing line.
Fight forward; be ready, be steady, be first;
Be fairest, be bravest, be best at your work;
Exult and be glad; dare to hunger, to thirst,
As David, as Alfred—let dogs skulk and whine—
There is room but for men on the firing line.
Aye, the one place to fight and the one place to fall—
As fall we must all, in God's good time—
It is where the manliest man is the wall,
Where boys are as men in their pride and prime.
Where glory gleams brightest, where brightest eyes shine—
Far out on the roaring red firing line.
As fall we must all, in God's good time—
It is where the manliest man is the wall,
Where boys are as men in their pride and prime.
Where glory gleams brightest, where brightest eyes shine—
Far out on the roaring red firing line.
—Success Magazine.
| Joaquin Miller's Poems | |