Page:Canadian Singers and Their Songs.djvu/49

CANADIAN SINGERS AND THEIR SONGS Day after day no gun had spoken, Night after night seemed peace unbroken: But the roads in the faint star-light were black With business for the great attack.

Night after night, with muffled clanks, On their bellies crept & crept the tanks; Stone-still, like Saurian monsters there, In the silhouette of a sudden flare.

Though neither song nor cigarette Cheered the regiments as they met, They cursed so softly, a snapping branch Seemed like a roaring avalanche.

Back in each forest, wood & spinney, The trooper smothered the brown mare's whinny, "Nuzzle your muzzle here, dear lass! Patience! Patience! The time will pass!

"Soon, lass, soon, we'll ride & ride With ringing hoofs through the countryside! Hard on the heels of the flying foe, As we dreamed we'd ride three years ago!"

from "Ballad of the Forty Silent Men" in "Vimy Ridge & New Poems" 45