Exposure

Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us . . .

Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . .

Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . .

Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,

                     But nothing happens.

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.

Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.

Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,

Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.

                     What are we doing here?

The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow . . .

We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.

Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army

Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,

                     But nothing happens.

Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.

Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,

With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,

We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,

                     But nothing happens.

Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -- -

We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,

Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,

Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.

                     Is it that we are dying?

Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed

With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;

For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;

Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors are closed -- -

                     We turn back to our dying.

Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;

Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.

For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;

Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,

                     For love of God seems dying.

To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,

Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.

The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,

Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,

                     But nothing happens.

Spring Offensive

Halted against the shade of a last hill,

They fed, and, lying easy, were at ease

And, finding comfortable chests and knees

Carelessly slept. But many there stood still

To face the stark, blank sky beyond the ridge,

Knowing their feet had come to the end of the world.

Marvelling they stood, and watched the long grass swirled

By the May breeze, murmurous with wasp and midge,

For though the summer oozed into their veins

Like the injected drug for their bones' pains,

Sharp on their souls hung the imminent line of grass,

Fearfully flashed the sky's mysterious glass.

Hour after hour they ponder the warm field -- -

And the far valley behind, where the buttercups

Had blessed with gold their slow boots coming up,

Where even the little brambles would not yield,

But clutched and clung to them like sorrowing hands;

They breathe like trees unstirred.

Till like a cold gust thrilled the little word

At which each body and its soul begird

And tighten them for battle. No alarms

Of bugles, no high flags, no clamorous haste -- -

Only a lift and flare of eyes that faced

The sun, like a friend with whom their love is done.

O larger shone that smile against the sun, -- -

Mightier than his whose bounty these have spurned.

So, soon they topped the hill, and raced together

Over an open stretch of herb and heather

Exposed. And instantly the whole sky burned

With fury against them; and soft sudden cups

Opened in thousands for their blood; and the green slopes

Chasmed and steepened sheer to infinite space.

Of them who running on that last high place

Leapt to swift unseen bullets, or went up

On the hot blast and fury of hell's upsurge,

Or plunged and fell away past this world's verge,

Some say God caught them even before they fell.

But what say such as from existence' brink

Ventured but drave too swift to sink.

The few who rushed in the body to enter hell,

And there out-fiending all its fiends and flames

With superhuman inhumanities,

Long-famous glories, immemorial shames -- -

And crawling slowly back, have by degrees

Regained cool peaceful air in wonder -- -

Why speak they not of comrades that went under?

The Chances

I mind as 'ow the night afore that show

Us five got talking, -- - we was in the know,

"Over the top to-morrer; boys, we're for it,

First wave we are, first ruddy wave; that's tore it."

"Ah well," says Jimmy, -- - an' 'e's seen some scrappin' -- -

"There ain't more nor five things as can 'appen;

Ye get knocked out; else wounded -- - bad or cushy;

Scuppered; or nowt except yer feeling mushy."

One of us got the knock-out, blown to chops.

T'other was hurt, like, losin' both 'is props.

An' one, to use the word of 'ypocrites,

'Ad the misfortoon to be took by Fritz.

Now me, I wasn't scratched, praise God Almighty

(Though next time please I'll thank 'im for a blighty),

But poor young Jim, 'e's livin' an' 'e's not;

'E reckoned 'e'd five chances, an' 'e's 'ad;

'E's wounded, killed, and pris'ner, all the lot -- -

The ruddy lot all rolled in one. Jim's mad.

S. I. W.

"I will to the King,

And offer him consolation in his trouble,

For that man there has set his teeth to die,

And being one that hates obedience,

Discipline, and orderliness of life,

I cannot mourn him."

                            W. B. Yeats.

Patting goodbye, doubtless they told the lad
He'd always show the Hun a brave man's face;
Father would sooner him dead than in disgrace, -- -
Was proud to see him going, aye, and glad.
Perhaps his Mother whimpered how she'd fret
Until he got a nice, safe wound to nurse.
Sisters would wish girls too could shoot, charge, curse, . . .
Brothers -- - would send his favourite cigarette,
Each week, month after month, they wrote the same,
Thinking him sheltered in some Y.M. Hut,
Where once an hour a bullet missed its aim
And misses teased the hunger of his brain.
His eyes grew old with wincing, and his hand
Reckless with ague. Courage leaked, as sand
From the best sandbags after years of rain.
But never leave, wound, fever, trench-foot, shock,
Untrapped the wretch. And death seemed still withheld
For torture of lying machinally shelled,
At the pleasure of this world's Powers who'd run amok.

He'd seen men shoot their hands, on night patrol,
Their people never knew. Yet they were vile.
"Death sooner than dishonour, that's the style!"
So Father said.

                        One dawn, our wire patrol
Carried him. This time, Death had not missed.
We could do nothing, but wipe his bleeding cough.
Could it be accident? -- - Rifles go off . . .
Not sniped? No. (Later they found the English ball.)

It was the reasoned crisis of his soul.
Against the fires that would not burn him whole
But kept him for death's perjury and scoff
And life's half-promising, and both their riling.

With him they buried the muzzle his teeth had kissed,
And truthfully wrote the Mother "Tim died smiling."

Futility

Move him into the sun -- -

Gently its touch awoke him once,

At home, whispering of fields unsown.

Always it woke him, even in France,

Until this morning and this snow.

If anything might rouse him now

The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds -- -

Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.

Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides

Full-nerved, -- - still warm, -- - too hard to stir?

Was it for this the clay grew tall?

-- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil

To break earth's sleep at all?

Smile, Smile, Smile

Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned

Yesterday's Mail; the casualties (typed small)

And (large) Vast Booty from our Latest Haul.

Also, they read of Cheap Homes, not yet planned;

For, said the paper, "When this war is done

The men's first instinct will be making homes.

Meanwhile their foremost need is aerodromes,

It being certain war has just begun.

Peace would do wrong to our undying dead, -- -

The sons we offered might regret they died

If we got nothing lasting in their stead.

We must be solidly indemnified.

Though all be worthy Victory which all bought,

We rulers sitting in this ancient spot

Would wrong our very selves if we forgot

The greatest glory will be theirs who fought,

Who kept this nation in integrity."

Nation? -- - The half-limbed readers did not chafe

But smiled at one another curiously

Like secret men who know their secret safe.

This is the thing they know and never speak,

That England one by one had fled to France

(Not many elsewhere now save under France).

Pictures of these broad smiles appear each week,

And people in whose voice real feeling rings

Say: How they smile! They're happy now, poor things.

Conscious

His fingers wake, and flutter up the bed.

His eyes come open with a pull of will,

Helped by the yellow may-flowers by his head.

A blind-cord drawls across the window-sill . . .

How smooth the floor of the ward is! what a rug!

And who's that talking, somewhere out of sight?

Why are they laughing? What's inside that jug?

"Nurse! Doctor!" "Yes; all right, all right."

But sudden dusk bewilders all the air -- -

There seems no time to want a drink of water.

Nurse looks so far away. And everywhere

Music and roses burnt through crimson slaughter.

Cold; cold; he's cold; and yet so hot:

And there's no light to see the voices by -- -

No time to dream, and ask -- - he knows not what.

A Terre

Sit on the bed; I'm blind, and three parts shell,

Be careful; can't shake hands now; never shall.

Both arms have mutinied against me -- - brutes.

My fingers fidget like ten idle brats.

I tried to peg out soldierly -- - no use!

One dies of war like any old disease.

This bandage feels like pennies on my eyes.

I have my medals? -- - Discs to make eyes close.

My glorious ribbons? -- - Ripped from my own back

In scarlet shreds. (That's for your poetry book.)

A short life and a merry one, my brick!

We used to say we'd hate to live dead old, -- -

Yet now . . . I'd willingly be puffy, bald,

And patriotic. Buffers catch from boys

At least the jokes hurled at them. I suppose

Little I'd ever teach a son, but hitting,

Shooting, war, hunting, all the arts of hurting.

Well, that's what I learnt, -- - that, and making money.

Your fifty years ahead seem none too many?

Tell me how long I've got? God! For one year

To help myself to nothing more than air!

One Spring! Is one too good to spare, too long?

Spring wind would work its own way to my lung,

And grow me legs as quick as lilac-shoots.

My servant's lamed, but listen how he shouts!

When I'm lugged out, he'll still be good for that.

Here in this mummy-case, you know, I've thought

How well I might have swept his floors for ever,

I'd ask no night off when the bustle's over,

Enjoying so the dirt. Who's prejudiced

Against a grimed hand when his own's quite dust,

Less live than specks that in the sun-shafts turn,

Less warm than dust that mixes with arms' tan?

I'd love to be a sweep, now, black as Town,

Yes, or a muckman. Must I be his load?

O Life, Life, let me breathe, -- - a dug-out rat!

Not worse than ours the existences rats lead -- -

Nosing along at night down some safe vat,

They find a shell-proof home before they rot.

Dead men may envy living mites in cheese,

Or good germs even. Microbes have their joys,

And subdivide, and never come to death,

Certainly flowers have the easiest time on earth.

"I shall be one with nature, herb, and stone."

Shelley would tell me. Shelley would be stunned;

The dullest Tommy hugs that fancy now.

"Pushing up daisies," is their creed, you know.

To grain, then, go my fat, to buds my sap,

For all the usefulness there is in soap.

D'you think the Boche will ever stew man-soup?

Some day, no doubt, if . . .

                                          Friend, be very sure

I shall be better off with plants that share

More peaceably the meadow and the shower.

Soft rains will touch me, -- - as they could touch once,

And nothing but the sun shall make me ware.

Your guns may crash around me. I'll not hear;

Or, if I wince, I shall not know I wince.

Don't take my soul's poor comfort for your jest.

Soldiers may grow a soul when turned to fronds,

But here the thing's best left at home with friends.

My soul's a little grief, grappling your chest,

To climb your throat on sobs; easily chased

On other sighs and wiped by fresher winds.

Carry my crying spirit till it's weaned

To do without what blood remained these wounds.

Wild with all Regrets

My arms have mutinied against me -- - brutes!

My fingers fidget like ten idle brats,

My back's been stiff for hours, damned hours.

Death never gives his squad a Stand-at-ease.

I can't read. There: it's no use. Take your book.

A short life and a merry one, my buck!

We said we'd hate to grow dead old. But now,

Not to live old seems awful: not to renew

My boyhood with my boys, and teach 'em hitting,

Shooting and hunting, -- - all the arts of hurting!

-- Well, that's what I learnt. That, and making money.

Your fifty years in store seem none too many;

But I've five minutes. God! For just two years

To help myself to this good air of yours!

One Spring! Is one too hard to spare? Too long?

Spring air would find its own way to my lung,

And grow me legs as quick as lilac-shoots.

Yes, there's the orderly. He'll change the sheets

When I'm lugged out, oh, couldn't I do that?

Here in this coffin of a bed, I've thought

I'd like to kneel and sweep his floors for ever, -- -

And ask no nights off when the bustle's over,

For I'd enjoy the dirt; who's prejudiced

Against a grimed hand when his own's quite dust, -- -

Less live than specks that in the sun-shafts turn?

Dear dust, -- - in rooms, on roads, on faces' tan!

I'd love to be a sweep's boy, black as Town;

Yes, or a muckman. Must I be his load?

A flea would do. If one chap wasn't bloody,

Or went stone-cold, I'd find another body.

Which I shan't manage now. Unless it's yours.

I shall stay in you, friend, for some few hours.

You'll feel my heavy spirit chill your chest,

And climb your throat on sobs, until it's chased

On sighs, and wiped from off your lips by wind.

I think on your rich breathing, brother, I'll be weaned

To do without what blood remained me from my wound.

Disabled

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,

And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,

Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park

Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,

Voices of play and pleasure after day,

Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay

When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees

And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,

-- In the old times, before he threw away his knees.

Now he will never feel again how slim

Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,

All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face,

For it was younger than his youth, last year.

Now he is old; his back will never brace;

He's lost his colour very far from here,

Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,

And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,

And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg,

After the matches carried shoulder-high.

It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,

He thought he'd better join. He wonders why . . .

Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.

That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,

He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;

Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.

Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears

Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts

For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;

And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;

Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.

And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

Only a solemn man who brought him fruits

Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,

And do what things the rules consider wise,

And take whatever pity they may dole.

To-night he noticed how the women's eyes

Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.

How cold and late it is! Why don't they come

And put him into bed? Why don't they come?

The End

After the blast of lightning from the east,

The flourish of loud clouds, the Chariot throne,

After the drums of time have rolled and ceased

And from the bronze west long retreat is blown,

Shall Life renew these bodies? Of a truth

All death will he annul, all tears assuage?

Or fill these void veins full again with youth

And wash with an immortal water age?

When I do ask white Age, he saith not so, -- -

"My head hangs weighed with snow."

And when I hearken to the Earth she saith

My fiery heart sinks aching. It is death.

Mine ancient scars shall not be glorified

Nor my titanic tears the seas be dried."