Knowledge
I have lived softly, trodden pleasant ways,
Sounded no depths of life, looked on the mere
Shell of the world, with lazy critic gaze,
Heard its great voice with inattentive ear;
War snatched me from the cloying atmosphere
Of clubs and foyers to adventure high,
Taught me to feel, hate, love, endure and fear,
I have lived and fought with men and saw them die!
What spaces I have spanned in these great days!
How far am I from that glib, insincere
Cynic who summed existence ina phrase
And looked on all things human with a sneer!
One lealrns the verities when over here,
Where red war flames along the arching sky,
And in a life that strips souls stark and sheer,
I lived and fought with men and saw them die!
Comrades I have found where cannon blaze,
Loyalty to the end, abiding cheer
In “hell's despite;” courage beyond all praise,
And life held cheap because a faith is dear;
Of old I saw the world an ugly smear,
Not knowing that my sight was all awry
But war's rough hand swept my dull vision clear,
I have lived and fought with men and saw them die.
Envoy
Thank God the wrath of war will disappear,
Yet this is brought me, which I could not buy,
The memory that through one flaming year
I lived and fought with men and saw them die!
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