Poems of Purpose — A Holiday

Berlin, Germany, gave the school children a half holiday to celebrate the sinking of the _Lusitania_.

WAR declares a holiday;

Little children, run and play.

Ring-a-rosy round the earth With the garland of your mirth.

Shrill a song brim full of glee Of a great ship sunk at sea.

Tell with pleasure and with pride How a hundred children died.

Sing of orphan babes, whose cries Beat against unanswering skies;

Let a mother’s mad despair Lend staccato to your air.

Sing of babes who drowned alone;

Sing of headstones, marked ‘Unknown’;

Sing of homes made desolate Where the stricken mourners wait.

Sing of battered corpses tossed By the heedless waves, and lost.

Run, sweet children, sing and play;

War declares a holiday.