Page:Armistice Day.djvu/236

214 Bright now, now dimmer, dimmer,

Fewer and fewer glimmer.

Only the lights that mark the passing shore,

Lofty and lonely star the gray—

Then are no more.

We are alone with dusk and creamy spray.

The captain coughs, remembering the rain.

The major coughs, remembering the mud.

Some shudder at the horror of dark blood,

Or wine-wet kisses, lewd.

Some sigh, remembering new loves and farewell pain.

Some smile, remembering old loves to be renewed.

Silent, we stare across the deepening night.

France vanishing!—Swift, swift, the curling waves—

Fights and despair,

And faces, fair;

Proud heads held high

For Victory;

And flags above friends' graves.

The group buzzes, rustles, hums,

Then stiffens as the colonel comes,

A burly figure in the mellow light,

With haughty, kingly ways.