Make Way for the Man
by Charles Eugene Banks
Let us have peace. No craven’s peace,
Nor sluggard’s to gape and dream;
But the strenuous peace of the land’s increase,
And the powerful beat of steam.
Let the cannon of commerce roar over the fields,
And the bugles of brotherhood play—
For the arm of the man, and the brain of the man,
And the grit of the man, make way.
Let us have peace. No timid peace,
That doubtful clings to its place,
But the free brave peace of the old-time Greece,
And the faith of a patriot race.
Let the vision of Virtue enrapture the gaze,
And the bolts of Integrity stay—
For the arm of the man, and the brain of the man,
And the nerve of the man, make way.
Let us have peace. No anchored peace
That holds its sails in the slips,
But the peace that sweeps all the strange blue deeps
With the keels of its own great ships.
With Honor commanding, and Truth at the helm,
And Beauty to welcome the spray—
For the nerve and muscle and brawn and brain,
For the soul of the Man make way.
Charles Eugene Banks (1885–1932) was an American newspaper editor, author, poet, playwright, historian, and orator. . . .
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