| |
| THE GERMAN people reared them | |
| An idol made of wood; | |
| And Hindenburg before them | |
| Lifelike and stupid stood. | |
| |
| To clothe him all in iron | 5 |
| And thus his soul express, | |
| With nails and spikes they covered | |
| His wooden nakedness. | |
| |
| And when they, thus had clothed him | |
| All in a suit of mail, | 10 |
| Still came they, wild-eyed, looking | |
| For space to drive a nail. | |
| |
| Whenever Teuton airmen | |
| Slay boys and girls at play, | |
| Or U-boats, drowning babies, | 15 |
| Create a holiday. | |
| |
| Then, gathering round their statue, | |
| A happy German throng | |
| Drive nails into the idol | |
| To make him still more strong. | 20 |
| |
| Avenge the babes, shipbuilders, | |
| That on the seas have died; | |
| Avenge the little children | |
| Murdered for Wilhelm’s pride. | |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards, | 25 |
| And let your hammers ring, | |
| For more than ships and cargoes | |
| Waits on your fashioning. | |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards; | |
| With every bolt you drive | 30 |
| Bethink you ’tis the Kaiser | |
| Whose brutish head you rive. | |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards, | |
| And swing with might and main; | |
| ’Tis Tirpitz and the Crown Prince | 35 |
| That you to-day have slain. | |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards, | |
| And heat the metal hot, | |
| For it is Bethmann Hollweg | |
| You’re boiling in the pot. | 40 |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards,— | |
| And when the day is done, | |
| You’ve spent it in driving spikes, | |
| In Hindenburg the Hun. | |
| |
| Come, gather at the shipyards, | 45 |
| And toil with healthy hate, | |
| For only you can save the world, | |
| The Hun is at the gate. | |
| |
