Then I drew back quickly: there came a cheer, A rush of figures, a noise and tussle, And then it was over, and high and clear My red rose bloomed on his gun's black muzzle. Then far in the darkness a sharp voice cried, And slowly and steadily, all together, Shoulder to shoulder and side to side, Rising and falling and swaying wide, But bearing above them the rose, my pride, They marched away in the twilight weather. And I leaned from my window and watched my rose Tossed on the waves of the surging column, Warmed from above in the sunset glows, Borne from below by an impulse solemn. Then I shut the window. I heard no more Of my soldier friend, nor my flower neither, But lived my life as I did before. I did not go as a nurse to the war,-- Sick folks to me are a dreadful bore,-- So I didn't go to the hospital either. You smile, O poet, and what do you? You lean from your window, and watch life's column Trampling and struggling through dust and dew, Filled with its purposes grave and solemn; And an act, a gesture, a face--who knows?-- Touches your fancy to thrill and haunt you, And you pluck from your bosom the verse that grows And down it flies like my red, red rose, And you sit and dream as away it goes, And think that your duty is done,--now don't you? I know your answer. I'm not yet through. Look at this photograph,--"In the Trenches"! That dead man in the coat of blue Holds a withered rose in his hand. That clenches Nothing!--except that the sun paints true, And a woman is sometimes prophetic-minded. And that's my romance. And, poet, you Take it and mould it to suit your view; And who knows but you may find it too Come to your heart once more, as mine did. AN ARCTIC VISION