Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.
PierreMaurice Baring (18741945)
I
The emblem of adventure and of youth,
So that men trembled, saying: ‘He forsooth
Has gone, has gone, and shall return no more.’
And then out there, they told me you were dead,
Taken and killed; how was it that I knew,
Whatever else was true, that was not true?
And then I saw you pale upon your bed,
Scarcely two years ago, when you were sent
Back from the margin of the dim abyss;
For Death had sealed you with a warning kiss,
And let you go to meet a nobler fate:
To fight for hearth and home, O fortunate,
To die in battle with your regiment.