Patriotic pieces from the Great War/The Nightingales of Flanders

THE NIGHTINGALES OF FLANDERS

The nightingales of Flanders,
They have not gone to war;
A soldier heard them singing
Where they had sung before.

The earth was torn and quaking,
The sky about to fall;
The nightingales of Flanders,
They minded not at all.

At intervals he heard them,
Between the guns, he said,
Making a thrilling music
Above the listening dead.

Of woodland and of orchard
And roadside tree bereft,
The nightingales of Flanders
Were singing, "France is left!"

—Grace Hazard Conkling