Army and Navy Review 1915 Panama-California Edition - Balboa Park

Sunset Parade of the Marines
By Sergeant Major Thomas F. Carney
I.
The westering sun his march withheld,
A statelier sight to view,
As on the tented field at eve
The warning trumpet blew,
And mustering on the mesa broad,
Their colors waving free,
In marshalled ranks the eye may mark
The soldiers of the sea.
II.
Now rolls the drum’s compelling note,
And peals the stern command,
The silent forms, in column now,
No longer moveless stand,
But up the winding way advance,
A phalanx silver crowned,
The bayonets wave like summer corn
To martial music’s sound.
III.
Once more in line the host parades
Within the open place,
Where colonnade and Gothic arch
Bespeak a vanished race,
Whose banner erstwhile kissed the breeze
Where now our colors sweep
O’er blue-clad tiles whose tokens tell
The warriors of the deep.
IV.
Long may they guard Columbia’s shrines;
Long keep her distant shores;
The first in war their heritage,
The ever faithful Corps;
Alike upon the battlefield
Or 'mid such peaceful scenes
Old Glory floats more proudly still
When borne by the Marines.