To
L.R.D., EM 1/c, U. S. Navy
Killed in action, Pearl Harbor, T. H.
December 7, 1941

Smile a little, lad,
For when you smile
There is no sleep.
How can there then be Death?

The Chicago Sun has kindly granted permission to
reprint the poem “The Litany of Pearl Harbor,”
which it published on December 7, 1942, in
June Provines’ column

CONTENTS

Page
[The Bird, the Lad and Me][1]
[The War in Spain][1]
[It Rains Tonight][2]
[While Drums Are Rolling][2]
[Apollo][3]
[Fountain of Loveliness][4]
[Highway Number 66][5]
[Dirge for the Squalus][6]
[Echo Canyon][7]
[Fragment][8]
[We Hang upon a Scaffold][8]
[I Looked into Your Eyes][9]
[Of This Great Voiceless Love][9]
[I Would Have Brought You Fire][10]
[Too Much of Life][10]
[Lone Cello][11]
[Apocalypse][11]
[The Old Sea Wall][12]
[The Midnight Horseman][13]
[Lonely Heart][14]
[Dreams][15]
[The Bugles Called][15]
[Morning Guard][16]
[When Kilmer Wrote of Trees][17]
[Wild Geese][17]
[I Write to You in Red][18]
[’Tis Winter Now][18]
[Sonnet][19]
[The Tropic Dawn][20]
[Twilight][21]
[Echo][21]
[Star Course][22]
[Memorandum][23]
[The Litany of Pearl Harbor][23]
[We Were Waiting That Morning for Colors][26]
[The Motor Launch Crew][27]
[To the Garrison at Wake][28]
[Corregidor and Calvary][31]
[When he and I had met][33]
[To the Marines][34]
[The Lads Who Go Below][35]
[The Road to High Wood][36]
[Night Watch][37]
[The Soldier and the Samovar][38]
[Nocturne][38]
[The Swing][39]
[Somewhere on Leave][40]
[The Sentry][41]
[I Watched Him in the Tournament][41]
[South Pacific][42]
[Deck-Ape][43]
[Sailor Boy][43]
[Avenge][44]
[The Crossing of the Rhine][45]
[The Ballad of the Dead Sailor][45]
[The Death of the Scharnhorst][47]
[Little Boys and Little Dogs][53]
[U.S.S. Oklahoma Returns to Her Crew][54]
[Night][56]
[For All Heroes][57]
[Foxhole][58]
[Bury Him][61]

THE BIRD, THE LAD AND ME

The sky was touched with tints of morn,
A wind was in the trees,
I lay in bed awakened
By the murmur of the leaves.

I listened to the chirping
Of the first-awakened bird,
And, his leather heels a-clicking,
Some lad off to work I heard.