His face masked by warm False grin And the slope-sided mouth Tense and tight Twitching in grimace That left his mouth A gaping black hole … And the furtive backward glance And the gulping Of quickly offered beer … And the quick cat-turn, As Brother to brother The sharp hand on his shoulder … Battle madness …! And the tight crouched tenseness And then The difficult relaxation… ‘Only my brother!!’— The relief and warmness— But, thru' the embrace— The soldier's eyes, Still straining in the darkness— Cold, iced, wary … And then to meet mine eyes And then — to glow with Surprise, pleasure? Madness … Come to me It will be a long furlough mine cousin And have you forgotten That we ran fleet-footed As children And the world had no fear? And you have forgotten … Your eyes are the eyes of a man— And did you only Battle upon the fighting fields In Malaya?? And as you hold me in fond embrace Am I weeping for the joy of Your homecoming Or because I know That you have grown smaller And shrunk … That the man has seen too much Of the inhumanity of man To man … That there is falsity in your embrace That I am no longer the cousin But a woman to you … And I would that I could Give you … That which you want of me But it is not meet … And I am not affinitous With the man As I was with the boy Your eyes hold the passion of a man, And mine the sadness of a woman, And I watch the passion die And the rueful, cynical, smile And again I understand That you fought — not only On the battlefields And I wonder that war Can make a youth Into that which is less than a man. And here are your friends, cousins … To welcome a stranger to their midst … A stranger … Who does not know yet … That he is a stranger … Dinah M. Rawiri