The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-05-08
MOTHER, CAN | GO?
A Civil War Poem That is in Part
Applicable to Today.

(This pretty patriotic poem was
written by Private William Zanos,
16, soldier in the regular army in
1864, whom the Rev. DR.. J. H. Car
penter, of Marine, Ia, found in a hos
pital at Cairo. DR.. Carpenter, get
ting the boys confidence, obtained
the publication of the same. The
poem was written on scraps of paper
which the boy timidy gave DR.. Car
penter of the Christian Commission
to read.)
1 am writing to you, mother, know
ing well what you will say
When you read with fearful fond
ness all l write to you today,
Knowing we'll the flame of ardor on
loving mothers part,
That will kindle with each impulse,
with each throbbing of your heart.
i have heard ny country ceiling for
her sons that still are true.
1 have loved that country, mother,
only next to God and you;
And my soul is springing forward to
resist her bitter foe;
Can 1 go, my dearest mother; tell
me, mother, can I go?
From the battered walls Of Sumter,
from the wide waves of the sea,
1 have heard her cry for succor, as
the voice of God to me.
In prosperity I love her, in her days
of dark distress,
With your spirit in me, mother could
1 love that country less?
They have pierced her heart with
treason, they have caused their
sons to bleed,
They have robbed her in her kind
ness, they have triumphed in her
need,
They have trampled on her standard,
and she calls me to her woe;
Can go, my dearest mother, tell me,
mother, can 1 go?
l am young and slender, mother, they
would call me but boy,
But I know the land 1 live in, and
the blessings 1 enjoy;
I am old enough, my mother, to be
loyal, proud and true
To the faithful course of duty l have
ever learned from you.
We must conquer this rebellion, let
the doubling heart be still,
We must conquer this rebellion, we
must conquer, and we will;
But the faithful must not falter, and
shall be wanting? No!
Bid me go, my dearest mother-tell
me, mother, can I go?
He who led his chosen people in
their efforts to be free
From the tyranny of Egypt, will be
merciful to me
Will protect me by His power in
whate'er I undertake,
Will return me home in safety, dear
est mother, for your sake;
Or should my bleeding country need
victim such as me,
I am nothing more than others who
have perished to be free;
On her bosom let me slumber, on her
altar let me lie,
am not afraid, my mother, in so
good a cause to die.
There will come day of gladness,
when the people of the Lord
Shall look proudly on their banner,
which His mercy has restored
When the stars in perfect number,
on their azure field of blue,
Shall be clustered in union then,
and ever firm and true;
1 may live to see it, mother, when
the patriots work is done,
And your heart so full of kindness
will beat proudly for your son;
Or through tears your eyes may see
it, with a sadly thoughtful view,
And may love it still more dearly for
the cost it was to you.
l have written to you, mother, with
consciousness of right;
1 am thinking of you fondly, with a
loyal heart tonight.
When l have your noble bidding, |
which shall tell me to press on,
will come and see you, mother, |
come and kiss you and be gone. |
In the sacred name of Freedom, and |
my country as her due
In the name of right and JUSTICE
have written this to you.
am eager, anxious, longing to re-
sist my country's foe
Shall l go, my dearest mother; tell
ho1