Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SUNDOWN IN VIRGINIA, by WILLIAM A. PHELON First Line: This is a strange world. Onct, I wouldn't thank Last Line: Do me a favor, will you? Call me yank! Subject(s): Soldiers; Virginia (state); War; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
THIS is a strange world. Onct, I wouldn't thank The consarned foolthe blankety-blankety-blank Who, knowin' how I served the C. S. A., Would have the very nerve to call me "Yank!" In fact, I'd bust him like a gourd. That name Would rouse in me the old-time fightin' flame, Till I saw red, I would! Yes, I was licked, Licked by them Yanksbut I was never tame! These fifty years I've smoulderedyou can bet Through all that time I was a Rebel yet Plum unregeneratedthat was me Changin' in nowisewhat you'd call firm-set! But somethin's happened-somethin' strange an' new A sudden change that's thrilled me through an' through You felt it, Northern stranger? Why, it burns Burns out all differences 'twixt me an' you Burns out all hate for Yankees! T'other day Your boys and my boys went upon their way To kill Hell's slimy beast-and, somehow, then, Somehow, my old allegiance went astray! It's one old flag for both your boys an' mine It's North and South in one great fightin'-line Oh, stranger, if but you an' me could march With those brave youngsters right acrost the Rhine! I'm old an' tottery. Mighty soon I'll see Longstreet an' Jackson, an' Marse Robert Lee An' when I meet my generals, I know That none of them will be ashamed of me Not of the way I fought in times gone past Not of the way I faced the bullet-blast Nor, least of all, about the way I changed My thoughts an' sentiments, right at the last! Our boys are fightin'! By the river bank They led the charge that broke the German flank, Like us at Chickamauga! Stranger-please Do me a favor, will you? CALL ME YANK! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN A FOOL THERE WAS by WILLIAM A. PHELON |
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