WAR, 1914-15.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 246, 18 December 1915, Page 7

WAR, 1914-15.

A soul inff.iramed with bitter hate, A kingdom made so desolate, A lust of greed and passion loose; And a great reeking charnel house Where demons beh h the poison breath ; And a grim shadow broods, called death. A darkened sky, yet often riven With shatis unlike the bolt of heaven, A goal tor sport where c hildren play, And age and beauty end their day. A raid with Neptune and a thrust Beneath those billows th.it we trust. A shattered liner in a day, And fiendish gibes and mo< kery, A scattered sea, remorseless, wild, A long good-bye to parent, < hild. A song of death and agony And rich and poor together lie. O, earth; O, sky, that this should be, O, man that every day should see The pale horse lurking every where. That bitterness should turn our care, Our hope our love, and everything i nut g ilds the life to w ho h we cling To desolation and despair. Is this the lot, is this the share For those at home who sit and wait For love and duty to the state, l his 101 l of honour for the brave At home, on battle-held, or wave? O parents, brothers, sisters, all, to save a nation from a fall, Deny not those, in manhood’s prime, W ho fain would seek that other clime, Where martial music and the roar Of battle deafens more and more. Though language fails and hearts are wrung, And slow to utter with the tongue, The sad assent, “Go, comrades, go To vindicate a nation’s woe.” Yet gird your souls with courage true, The God of battles is with you, And as they gather, one by one, from city streets and cottage lone, Let gladness beam from every eye To cheer them all as they pass by. W Spartan mother, weep those tears O’er withered hopes of coming years, Nours is a great, unselfish love, That lives again again to prove It was for us you sent your boy Responsive to a nation’s cry. And when at last the foe is driven, And records of his deeds are given, With the great phalanx ’twill be he Who fought and won the victory. —L. A. Griffin. Morrinsville, Waikato, May 22, 1915.