All that a man might ask thou hast given me, England, Birthright and happy childhood's long heart's-ease, And love whose range is deep beyond all sounding And wider than all seas: A heart to front the world and find God in it. Eyes blind enow but not too blind to see The lovely things behind the dross and darkness, And lovelier things to be; And friends whose loyalty time nor death shall weaken And quenchless hope and laughter's golden store-- All that a man might ask thou hast given me, England, Yet grant thou one thing more: That now when envious foes would spoil thy splendour, Unversed in arms, a dreamer such, as I, May in thy ranks be deemed not all unworthy, England, for thee to die. _Robert Ernest Vernède_ FULFILMENT Was there love once? I have forgotten her. Was there grief once? Grief yet is mine. Other loves I have, men rough, but men who stir More grief, more joy, than love of thee and thine. Faces cheerful, full of whimsical mirth, Lined by the wind, burned by the sun; Bodies enraptured by the abounding earth, As whose children we are brethren: one. And any moment may descend hot death To shatter limbs! Pulp, tear, blast Belovèd soldiers who love rough life and breath Not less for dying faithful to the last. O the fading eyes, the grimed face turned bony, Oped mouth gushing, fallen head, Lessening pressure of a hand, shrunk, clammed and stony! O sudden spasm, release of the dead! Was there love once? I have forgotten her. Was there grief once? Grief yet is mine. O loved, living, dying, heroic soldier, All, all my joy, my grief, my love, are thine. _Robert Nichols_ THE DAY'S MARCH The battery grides and jingles, Mile succeeds to mile; Shaking the noonday sunshine The guns lunge out awhile, And then are still awhile. We amble along the highway; The reeking, powdery dust Ascends and cakes our faces With a striped, sweaty crust. Under the still sky's violet The heat throbs on the air.... The white road's dusty radiance Assumes a dark glare. With a head hot and heavy, And eyes that cannot rest, And a black heart burning In a stifled breast, I sit in the saddle, I feel the road unroll, And keep my senses straightened Toward to-morrow's goal. There, over unknown meadows Which we must reach at last, Day and night thunders A black and chilly blast. Heads forget heaviness, Hearts forget spleen, For by that mighty winnowing Being is blown clean. Light in the eyes again, Strength in the hand, A spirit dares, dies, forgives, And can understand! And, best! Love comes back again After grief and shame, And along the wind of death Throws a clean flame. * * * * * The battery grides and jingles, Mile succeeds to mile; Suddenly battering the silence The guns burst out awhile.... I lift my head and smile. _Robert Nichols_ THE SIGN We are here in a wood of little beeches: And the leaves are like black lace Against a sky of nacre.