North of Arras.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 868, 23 February 1917, Page 12

North of Arras.

(For the N.Z. Free Lance.) "Tliere was artillery activity north- ' wards of Arras."—Official communique. Northward of Arras—there the shriek--mg shell - From hidden batteries" wings its rapid way Qver-tlie narrow stretch of "No Man's Land -To the dumb list'ning' trench where . every .man Grim fac'd, with stern set lip s and ' straining eyes, ' Waits for the thunderous crash that • coming tells Another shell has passed him safely by. IN ow ends the long-drawn whine—a sudden curve. And man and trencliYin mingled ruin lie. Shell follows shi.il and shrapnel screams ■ around, Until the gathering dusk permits no more, . Save _when the soaring star-shell lights the scene, And the dull thunder or the roaring; guns, ' . Hushed into silence, waits the cominodawn. —C.F., "Wellington.