"Shall waken with you, I that had Love to the full, and praised my lot, Trusting in truth to be forgot For worthier verse. Ah, make me glad, "You that come after me, and call From summits that outstrip my hopes. Yet I shall linger on the slopes And dwell with those who gave their all." XX LONG LEAVE I bow my head, O brother, brother, brother, But may not grudge you that were All to me. Should any _one_ lament when this our Mother Mourns for so many sons on land and sea. God of the love that makes two lives as one Give also strength to see that England's will be done. Let it be done, yea, down to the last tittle, Up to the fullness of all sacrifice. Our dead feared this alone--to give too little. Then shall the living murmur at the price? The hands withdrawn from ours to grasp the plough Would suffer only if the furrow faltered now. Know, fellow-mourners--be our cross too grievous-- That One who sealed our symbol with His blood Vouchsafed the vision that shall never leave us, Those humble crosses in the Flanders mud; And think there rests all-hallowed in each grave A life given freely for the world He died to save. And, ages hence, dim tramping generations Who never knew and cannot guess our pain-- Though history count nothing less than nations, And fame forget where grass has grown again-- Shall yet remember that the world is free. It is enough. For this is immortality. I raise my head, O brother, brother, brother. The organ sobs for triumph to my heart. What! Who will think that ransomed earth can smother Her own great soul, of which you are a part! The requiem music dies as if it _knew_ The inviolate peace where 'tis already well with you. EPILOGUE "It's not as easy as you think," The nettled poet sighed. "It's not as good as I could wish," The publisher replied. "It might," the kindly critic wrote, "Have easily been _worse_." "We will not read it anyhow," The public said, "it's verse." PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD, LONDON TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE All unusual, archaic and inconsistent spellings and usage have been maintained as in the original text. The only changes made were: In the original text, the words "polymêtis" and "hoi polloi" were written in Greek. I added the entries for "In Memoriam" and "Acknowledgements" to the Table of Contents. End of Project Gutenberg's The Singing Caravan, by Robert Vansittart