Here’s to the Mice!

(Written with the hope that the socialists might yet dethrone Kaiser and Czar.)

Here’s to the mice that scare the lions, Creeping into their cages. Here’s to the fairy mice that bite The elephants fat and wise: Hidden in the hay-pile while the elephant thunder rages. Here’s to the scurrying, timid mice Through whom the proud cause dies.

Here’s to the seeming accident When all is planned and working, All the flywheels turning, Not a vassal shirking. Here’s to the hidden tunneling thing That brings the mountain’s groans. Here’s to the midnight scamps that gnaw, Gnawing away the thrones.

When Bryan Speaks

When Bryan speaks, the town’s a hive. From miles around, the autos drive. The sparrow chirps. The rooster crows. The place is kicking and alive.

When Bryan speaks, the bunting glows. The raw procession onward flows. The small dogs bark. The children laugh A wind of springtime fancy blows.

When Bryan speaks, the wigwam shakes. The corporation magnate quakes. The pre-convention plot is smashed. The valiant pleb full-armed awakes.

When Bryan speaks, the sky is ours, The wheat, the forests, and the flowers. And who is here to say us nay? Fled are the ancient tyrant powers.

When Bryan speaks, then I rejoice. His is the strange composite voice Of many million singing souls Who make world-brotherhood their choice.

Written in Washington, D.C.
February, 1915.