SONG OF THE WARWORN MEN.

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 April 1918, Page 8

SONG OF THE WARWORN MEN.

Good God ! We are sick of the sliyignter, And the sight of the corpse strewn iieid; We have weary limbs, and aching heads. But a thought to yield ! Our fingers are cramped with gr.pping The breech of the rifle Dot, . Our shoulders arc bruised, and our eyes are strained, But we give them shot tor shot! We have ached with the cold .of winter. We have broiled ’neath the summer him, We have fought, when it seemed in vain to fight, But we never have turned to run ! Wc set our teeth with a grim resolve, As the foemen’s rush we stem, To us it has been a gruesome task,

But what lias it been to them ! Wc have suffered all men can suiter, Who fight for the things woith while. And yet, as wc think of the work we ha\e done, Wc fprgct our cares and" smile. Our ranks are thinned and thinning. And many a face we knew. Is missing now and if our turn conies, It shall find us ready too. W e have looked in the very eyes of Death, Aye ! a hundred times and more ! We have hoard the voice, of the Fiend ot Wrath, In a hundred cannons roar. And we answered back with a scornful shout, As we rushed into the fray, And wc swept the loc as the floating chaff By the wind is borne away. It blood be the price of Freedom, And Liberty born of Pain, Lo ! the earth is red with the blood we we shed. We have suffered not in vain. '• The foe knows well our valour, Ho has proved it again and again. And the while his lips may sneer and scoff, % In his heart he knows us men. So wc lift nnr eyes to the sunlight, That smiles on ns from above, And we catch the gleam of the Day of Peace, The Day of Hope and Love. And our hearts grow warm within us, As w e think of the happy day When we sit once more by our own firesides, Ay In the homes now far away. With onr dear ones gathered round us, And the lovclight in their eyes, As they serve us with the tender care, Of die love that never dies. As we'think of the days of trial, And our sufferings we recall. Wo know wc have ransomed the souls of men < We know it was worth it all ! —UAV. , ill ...I