Swiftly, to and fro,
Let your needles fly!
Be not yours to know
Pause, for tear or sigh.
Stitch by stitch they grow,
Garments soft and warm
That will keep life’s glow
In some shivering form.
Sweater, muffler, sock,
For the soldiers’ wear!
List to pity’s knock—
For those “over there.”
Children’s voices, too,
In the sad refrain,
Wring our hearts anew,
From that world of pain.
Banish for a while
Tints of brighter hue,
Welcome with a smile
Khaki, gray and blue.
Days are cold and drear,
Nights are long and bleak,
Thoughts from home are dear,
Where the cannons shriek.
Let some simple thing,
That your hand employs,
Cheer and comfort bring
To our gallant Boys.
May there be no end
To what love supplies!
Thus their share we’ll send
To our brave Allies!
A. M. D.
October, 1917.
[Illustration: KNITTING _for the_ ALLIES]