Says New York to Yokohama, To Calcutta and Bombay, To Peking, Manila, Bangkok, Sydney, Shanghai, Mandalay: "I am building you a channel Safe and easy -- I'm the boss! It's a short and simple journey. Come and see me: cut across!" This the call of San Francisco To Berlin and Liverpool, To Vienna, Cairo, London, Naples, Paris, and Stamboul: "I am making you a roadway, It's a modern, mighty foss; And the distance now is -- nothing. Come and see me: cut across!" Uncle Sam says to the nations, Nations big and nations small: "I am keeping open house now, And invite you to a call. For the world is growing narrow, And an ocean but a toss, When our ships can pierce an isthmus. Come and see me: cut across!" And the nations sing in chorus, Sing a song of happy peace: "Now we are so close together, It is time that wars should cease. Fighting is a wretched business; Loss, and loss, and only loss. Let us live as friends and neighbors, -- Visit often, -- cut across!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY by SIDNEY LANIER WHEN DEY 'LISTED COLORED SOLDIERS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR TO FURIUS ON POVERTY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE KNIGHTS: DEMOS AND HIS FLATTERER by ARISTOPHANES URANIA; THE WOMAN IN THE MOON: DEDICATION TO LADY PENELOPE DYNHAM by WILLIAM BASSE |