Poems

KILLED, SUVLA BAY, OCTOBER 6TH, 1915.

At Suvla when a sickening curse of sound Came hurtling from the shrapnel-shaken skies, Without a word you shuddered to the ground And with a gesture hid your darkening eyes. You are not blind to-day-- But were we blind before you went away?

Forgive us then, if, faltering, we fail To speak in terms articulate of you; Now Death’s celestial journeymen unveil Your naked soul--the soul we hardly knew. O beauty scarce unfurled, Your blood shall help to purify the world.

Awakened now, no longer we believe Knight-errantry a myth of long ago. Let us not shame your happiness and grieve; All close we feel you live and move, we know Your life shall ever be Close to our lives enshrined eternally.