A Holiday

Berlin, Germany, gave the school children a half holiday to celebrate the sinking of the Lusitania.

WAR declares a holiday; Little children, run and play. Ring-a-rosy round the earth With the garland of your mirth.

Shrill a song brim full of glee Of a great ship sunk at sea. Tell with pleasure and with pride How a hundred children died.

Sing of orphan babes, whose cries Beat against unanswering skies; Let a mother’s mad despair Lend staccato to your air.

Sing of babes who drowned alone; Sing of headstones, marked ‘Unknown’; Sing of homes made desolate Where the stricken mourners wait.

Sing of battered corpses tossed By the heedless waves, and lost. Run, sweet children, sing and play; War declares a holiday.