VERSES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4473, 5 September 1941, Page 4

VERSES

FOR THE FALLEN. X Re-printed on the occasion of the Day of Prayer at the time of the second anniversary of the present war.) With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the dnims thrill; Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into imtmortal spheres. There is music in the midst of desolation, And a glory that shines upon our tears. They went with songs to the battle; they were young, Straight of ' limb, true of eye. steady and aglow; They were staunch to the end against odds accounted; They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, noy the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. They mingle not with their comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables at home; They have no lot in our Labour of the day-time; They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden [from sight, To the innermost hearts of their own land they are known As the stars are known to the night.

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain. —Laurence Binyon.