November's misty sunshine on the streets of Paris lay;
The colors of all the Allies from window and wall were gay;
There was laughter and joy in plenty, as, under the autumn sky
I saw, through the Arch of Triumph, the Stars and Stripes go by.By a band of martial music the fluttering flag was led,
And a column of drab-clad soldiers with rapid rhythmic tread;
And the passing throng of Paris stood rigid, with eyes aflame
As under the Arch of Triumph my country's banner came.
And the hush that was on the people found echo in my breast;
It beat with a deep thanksgiving that our flag from the golden west,
In the fight for human freedom had borne so brave a share,
And wherever the wind unfurls it, the heads of men are bare;
That the lads of our drab-clad armies at Trugny and Montfaucon
On the flaming slopes of Mezy, in the hell of the deep Argonne,
Had fought with as fine a courage for the lands where the Hun had trod
As the men of the elder decades who fought for their native sod.
For now, through the misty sunshine that veiled the queenly town
The bronze men over the archway on the passing flag looked down --
The men of Lodi and Jena, and it seemed that their haughty glance
Said: "Flag of the Great Republic, thou, too, art at home in France;
Thou has won the right in glory on the fields where thy arms have gleamed
To stand with our own Tricolor in the hearts of a race redeemed."
Then the martial music quickened, and a flame on the misty sky --
From the shade of the Arch of Triumph the Stars and Stripes went by.
