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Van Dyke, Henry, 1852-1933

"The Poems of Henry Van Dyke"


April, 1917.

THE RED CROSS

Sign of the Love Divine
That bends to bear the load
Of all who suffer, all who bleed,
Along life's thorny road:
Sign of the Heart Humane,
That through the darkest fight
Would bring to wounded friend and foe
A ministry of light:
O dear and holy sign,
Lead onward like a star!
The armies of the just are thine,
And all we have and are.
October 20, 1918.
For the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call.

EASTER ROAD
1918

Under the cloud of world-wide war,
While earth is drenched with sorrow,
I have no heart for idle merrymaking,
Or for the fashioning of glad raiment.
I will retrace the divine footmarks,
On the Road of the first Easter.
Down through the valley of utter darkness
Dripping with blood and tears;
Over the hill of the skull, the little hill of great anguish,
The ambuscade of Death.
Into the no-man's-land of Hades
Bearing despatches of hope to spirits in prison,
Mortally stricken and triumphant
Went the faithful Captain of Salvation.
Then upward, swiftly upward,--
Victory, liberty, glory,
The feet that were wounded walked in the tranquil garden,
Bathed in dew and the light of deathless dawn.


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