Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLUE, GRAY, AND BROWN, by WILLIAM A. PHELON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLUE, GRAY, AND BROWN, by                    
First Line: The camps are thick in dixie
Last Line: Our brown-clad fighting sons!
Subject(s): Soldiers; War; World War I; First World War


THE camps are thick in Dixie,
And many a Southern town
Smiles on the bright young soldiers,
Clad in the khaki brown—
They do not wear the rebel gray,
Nor march in Northern blue,
But that old flag flies o'er their heads,
The flag for me and you!

'Twas hand-to-hand at Gettysburg,
But hand-in-hand to-day—
"Lean on me, Yank"-"No, Johnny Reb—
I'll help you on your way—"
In the North they all sing "Dixie,"
And North and South they stand,
While the old "Star-Spangled Banner"
Is rendered by the band!

There'll be no Bull Run coming—
So much for you, you Yank—
And there'll be no Appomattox,
Where Marse Robert's glory sank—
Just as we fought at Shiloh,
As we strove at Seven Pines,
Our boys will charge to triumph,
Our sons will hold the lines.

Oh for the strength of boyhood,
That we could strike a blow—
Oh for the golden springtime
Of fifty years ago!
Our day is past and vanished—
We may not face the guns—
But we are sending, North and South,
Our brown-clad fighting sons!





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