WHEREVER war, with its red woes, Or flood, or fire, or famine goes, There, too, go I; If earth in any quarter quakes Or pestilence its ravage makes, Thither I fly. I kneel behind the soldier's trench, I walk 'mid shambles' smear and stench, The dead I mourn; I bear the stretcher and I bend O'er Fritz and Pierre and Jack to mend What shells have torn. I go wherever men may dare, I go wherever woman's care And love can live, Wherever strength and skill can bring Surcease to human suffering, Or solace give. I helped upon Haldora's shore; With Hospitaller Knights I bore The first red cross; I was the Lady of the Lamp; I saw in Solferino's camp The crimson loss. I am your pennies and your pounds; I am your bodies on their rounds Of pain afar; I am @3you,@1 doing what you would If you were only where you could— Your avatar. The cross which on my arm I wear, The flag which o'er my breast I bear, Is but the sign Of what you 'd sacrifice for him Who suffers on the hellish rim Of war's red line. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT FREDERICKSBURG [DECEMBER 13, 1862] by JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY THE CATARACT OF LODORE by ROBERT SOUTHEY LET ALL THE EARTH KEEP SILENCE by LUCY A. K. ADEE EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 21. 'TIS CONSTANCY THAT GAINS THE PRIZE by PHILIP AYRES URANIA; THE WOMAN IN THE MOON: DEDICATION TO HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES by WILLIAM BASSE |