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Show jlrving's Prize Winning Essay I (The winning Service Star Le-I Le-I gion essay at Irving High ! School was this original piece I in poetic form by Bonnie Hodgson. Hodg-son. Miss Hodgson's essay "is Drinted in its pntirptv T771itrr'c note.) THE LAND AVHERE MEN ARE FREE by Bonnie Hodgson The sea was calm, the air was cool The moon above shone bright, The laughing waves of yesterday Were quiet in the night. The silent sea rolled on and on, Then in it something stirred, A ship approached so silently A sound was scarcely heard. On board the men slept restlessly rest-lessly Their guns beside them lay, For each man held within his heart Fear for the coming day, And on that ship of fighting men So far out in the sea, Were men of every race and creed Fighting for you and me. For there was John, your neighbor's son And Jimmy, Jack and Roy, A Cath'lic and a Methodist While over there, beside the rail Lay Carl, a German's son, And Mike, who's of Italian blood, Was clinging to his 'gun. An English lad lay next to him A Spaniard's son at right, While on his left lay George and Sam Who were as black as night. Although they differed in their faiths And in their colors, too, They all were there to save for us The red, the white, and blue. The signal with no warning came, The foe was somewhere near, The ship was instantly alive The air was filled with fear. Each man sat waiting patiently Just for that fight of hate, And 'though they fought that we might live Death had become their fate. Then, when the conflict had been fought And smoke had cleared away, The living gazed upon the dead As on the deck they lay. The Cath'lic and the Jewish boy The colored and the white, Had all died for this land of ours With common goals in sight. The waves rose high as they swallowed The brave men in tljeir foam, These men who just the night before Had dreamt of going home. And as the , waves rolled on their way To many a country shore, They took with them, the blood of men Who died for us in war. But this fight now is in the past It's nineteen forty-eight, And we, the students of the schools Are now our country's fate. We, soon will be the congressmen, congress-men, The senate and the court, The mayor and the governor, The governments support. I pray we won't forget this war, The things for which 'twas fought, The unity, the brotherhood, The freedom these men sought. That toleration we can have Toward our brothers all. That peace can dwell the whole world o'er In countries large and small. That we never perish from the earth That this may always be, Our America, the land we love, The land where men are free. |
