Needless Needles

By Louis W. Larsen

The war is won and now we’re bid
To cease our merry clack;
The loyal dames that wielded us
Have put us on the stack.

We knit our way to victory:
We kept the Yankees warm;
So now we lie in stiff array
And never swap a yarn.

The little monumental welts
Upon milady’s hand
Will testify the smashing blow
We dealt the Fatherland.

We’re not so sharp as bayonets
Nor made of shiny steel,
But none the less our amber points
Helped make the Boches reel.

Through history’s fabric all compact
Our threads will interweave
To tell the wondrous story
Of the things we did achieve.

Our purling voices now are still;
Adieu, while peace doth reign—
When great Mars sounds his trumpet
We shall leap to life again!

(1920)