"The Submarine Menace" by Rev. Joseph C. Booth (1917)

The Submarine Menace.

BY (REV.) JOSEPH C. BOOTH.

The greatest problem of to-day

        In naval warfare, clearly seen,

Is how to find the surest way

        To blast the German submarine.

The devil-imps the ocean swarm,

        Like hornets, filled with deadly spleen,

Broadcasting terror and alarm—

        The mission of the submarine.

The merchantmen of every clime

        Fall victims to that hell-machine,

Whose name's the symbol of crime:

        Inferno-prince—the submarine.

The neutral ships, the neutral flag,

        Without a law to intervene,

Are halted by the Teuton's brag:

        "This is the law"—the submarine!

The world is bound, her freedom's wrecked;

        To-day our future is foreseen;

Unless the menace-Hun is checked

        Our law will be the submarine.

Hear me, ye me who cry for peace,

        There is no peace, but war obscene!

Nor shall we ever find release

        Till we have crushed the submarine.

Let British lions sweep the main,

        Defended by the Eagle-Queen,

Until the imperiled sea's domain

        Is freed from every submarine.

Then shall the highway of the sea

        Leap in her liberty and sheen;

While nations shake with ecstasy,

        Unmenaced by the submarine!

Troy Times. May 12, 1917