TOO LITTLE ... AND TOO LATE
1/25/45

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen
The saddest are these: 'It might have been'!"
Thus Whittier wrote of the farmer's lass
And the lordly judge who chanced to pass. -
But add these words of a later date;
"Too little - little - and too late!"
The needed succor at Bataan;
The present need - to lick Japan. -
The need of more tanks, shells, and guns -
To beat the everlasting Huns.
The need of understanding here
Of our boys' earth-hell - far and near. -
Oh, let us spare their anguished cry:
"Too little - and too late! We die."


Return to Poem Index