Although the writer of this lovely poem - found for us by Historian Debbie Cameron - was not alive during WW1 - the sentiments in the poem are fitting for WW1 and it was published in "The Bystander" magazine in April 1917 – which is why I have included it here.
Lucy was born in Beverley, Massachusetts on 5th March 1824. Her parents were Benjamin and Lois Larcom.
After the death of Lucy's father, Lucy's Mother went to work in a boarding house in Lowell, where the girls who worked in Lowell's textile mills lived. Lucy and her siblings found employment in the mills and Lucy wrote about her experiences.
Here is the poem published in "Bystander":
“Do Something” published in The “Bystander”, April 1917
IF the world seems cool to you,
Kindle fires to warm it!
Let their comfort hide from you
Winters that deform it.
Hearts as frozen as your own
To that radiance gather;
You will soon forget to moan,
"Ah! the cheerless weather!"
If the world's a "vale of tears,"
Smile till rainbows span it;
Breathe the love that life endears --
Clear from clouds to fan it.
Of your gladness lend a gleam
Unto souls that shiver;
Show them how dark sorrow's stream
Blends with hope's bright river.
Lucy Larcom
https://www.poetryexplorer.net/poem.php?id=10079926
The "Bystander" was a British weekly tabloid magazine that featured reviews, topical drawings, cartoons, poems and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was established in 1903 by George Holt Thomas.
Historian Debbie Cameron is the creator of the Group Group Remembering British Women in WW1 – The Home Front and Overseas
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1468972083412699/
