Lucian B. Watkins, "The Negro Soldiers of America: What We Are Fighting For" (1918)
We fight--and, for DEMOCRACY,
Lord, we are glad of this sweet chance
To brave whetever hells there be
Beside the bleeding heart of France!
We fight--for all who suffer pain
We give our souls in sympathy;
We fight that Liberty may reign
From Berlin unto Tennessee.
To Tennessee--where last we saw
Infernal brands of death applied
To men--our men, within the law,
But "lawless" as they moaned and died.
In Tennessee--where vain, it seems,
Have been the gifts of passing years,
Where vain have been the ternal dreams
And toil of Lincoln, sag with tears.
In Tennessee--where Life's best part
Rich "pearls are cast before the swine."
CHRIST'S GOLDEN RULE that rules the heart
And keeps man nearer The Divine.
In Tennessee--where Wrong is Might
With Hate and Horror on the throne,
Where GOD'S DEMOCRACY of LIGHT
AND LOVE, it seems, has never shone.
In Tennessee--and all her kin
Of sister criminals, year by year,
Who've lost the consciousness of sin,
The tenderness that is a tear.
We fight--and for DEMOCRACY,
We'll dare Atlanta's tragic foam
Go "over the top"--Lord, let us see
PEACE AND ITS HAPPINESS AT HOME!
Hotel Warden, Omaha, Nebraska, February 23, 1918
Published in Richmond Planet, March 2, 1918