FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   >>  
s with your own back-yard; Each man intent on his private goal, You have no feeling for the whole; What singly none would tolerate You let unpunished hit the state, Unmindful that each man must share The stain he lets his country wear, And (what no traveller ignores) That her good name is often yours. You are proud in the pride that feels its might; From your imaginary height Men of another race or hue Are men of a lesser breed to you: The neighbor at your southern gate You treat with the scorn that has bred his hate. To lend a spice to your disrespect You call him the "greaser". But reflect! The greaser has spat on you more than once; He has handed you multiple affronts; He has robbed you, banished you, burned and killed; He has gone untrounced for the blood he spilled; He has jeering used for his bootblack's rag The stars and stripes of the gringo's flag; And you, in the depths of your easy-chair -- What did you do, what did you care? Did you find the season too cold and damp To change the counter for the camp? Were you frightened by fevers in Mexico? I can't imagine, but this I know -- You are impassioned vastly more By the news of the daily baseball score Than to hear that a dozen countrymen Have perished somewhere in Darien, That greasers have taken their innocent lives And robbed their holdings and raped their wives. Not by rough tongues and ready fists Can you hope to jilt in the modern lists. The armies of a littler folk Shall pass you under the victor's yoke, Sobeit a nation that trains her sons To ride their horses and point their guns -- Sobeit a people that comprehends The limit where private pleasure ends And where their public dues begin, A people made strong by discipline Who are willing to give--what you've no mind to -- And understand--what you are blind to -- The things that the individual Must sacrifice for the good of all. You have a leader who knows--the man Most fit to be called American, A prophet that once in generations Is given to point to erring nations Brighter ideals toward which to press And lead them out of the wilderness. Will you turn your back on him once again? Will you give the tiller once more to men Who have made your country the laughing-stock For the older peoples to scorn and mock, Who would make you servile, despised, and weak, A country that turns the other cheek, Who care not how bravely your flag may float, Who answer an insult with a note,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   >>  



Top keywords:

country

 

private

 
people
 
Sobeit
 

greaser

 
robbed
 

pleasure

 
discipline
 
strong
 

public


comprehends
 
littler
 

tongues

 

holdings

 
Darien
 

greasers

 
innocent
 

victor

 

nation

 

trains


modern

 

armies

 

horses

 

peoples

 

servile

 

laughing

 

wilderness

 

tiller

 
despised
 

answer


insult

 
bravely
 

leader

 

perished

 

sacrifice

 

understand

 

things

 

individual

 

called

 

ideals


Brighter

 

nations

 

erring

 

prophet

 

American

 
generations
 
height
 

imaginary

 

lesser

 

disrespect