They come from all over the planet, An Army that's never at rest, Wherever a job is, they man it, In East, North or South or the West. The Wops and the Slavs and the Limeys The Hunkies and Micks and the Yanks, Where dust, sweat and labor and grime is They battle in militant ranks. They war with the desert and river, They fight with the quag and the rock, Their blows make a continent shiver, And mountains are split by the shock; They lift the steel over the ridges, They dam up the floods coming down, They fling forth the trestles and bridges, They burrow 'neath torrent and town. Big-chested, big-hearted, big-handed, They march to the furthest frontiers And there they perform as commanded Without any salvoes of cheers. A hard-thewed and rough aggregation A mixed and a polygot mob Who battle for civilization —This Army of Men on the Job! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELIOTROPE by HARRY THURSTON PECK THE CATERPILLAR by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD EPISTLE TO HER FRIENDS AT GARTMORE by SUSANNA BLAMIRE THE STANDARD BEARER by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR DOBBS HIS FERRY; A LEGEND OF THE LOWER HUDSON by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER |