CHRIST IN FLANDERS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17076, 1 September 1917, Page 8

CHRIST IN FLANDERS.

•We had forgotten You or very nearly— You did not seem to touch us very . : nearly—■ Of course we thought about You now and then, Especially in any kind: of trouble. We know that- You were good in times ■'■ of trouble— But we are very ordinary men. And there were always other things to think .of — There's lots of things a man has got to think of — His work, his home, his pleasure, and his wife. And so we thought of You on Sunday— Sometimes, perhaps, noi even on a Sun- "'■• day— , Because there's always lots to fill one's 1 life. ■ . . . ' And all the while, in street, or lane, or byway— [n, country lane, in city street or byway— You walked among us, and we did not see; Your feet were bleeding as You walked our pavements. How did we miss Y:ur footprints on our pavements? ■ Can there Be other folks as blind as we 0 Now we remember; over here in Flandars; v (lt is not strange to th: kof You in Flanders) Txiis hideous warfare seems to make things clear. We never thought about You much 'n England, But now that we are far away from England We have no doubts, we know that You are here. You helped us pass the jest along the trenches, Where in cold blood we waited in the trenches-— You touched its ribaldry and made it fine, You stood beside us in cur pain and weakness — We're glad to think. You understood our weakness — Somehow it seemed -« help us not to whine. We think about You kneeling in the/ garden— Oh! God! the agony of that dread garden — "We know You prayed for us upon the Cross. If anything could make us glad to boar it—' 'Twould lie thp " nowlpdge that You willed to bear it— Pain, death, the uttermost of human los-.. Though we forget YouI—You1 —You will not 1 forget us— Wo feel %o sure that You will not forget us— But- stnv with us until thfc drovim is past. And so wen? - for eourn^o, <=t rpn ath and nnrclon— / T'Vtvf>rMsll'". T flit.il.-. A vp.p'k for mrdrvn — I And f'W- You'll stnvr! Wrlp u1? t^ tiro last. ,^ ' _j_ -jilHl^Bierald."