Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/135

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��Loftus Maclnnes

Son of Mr Tom Maclnnes (q.v.). Born at Victoria, B.C., November 26th, 1891. Educated in preparatory schools in his native province, and at McGill University. Entered the Civil Service at Ottawa, in the Department of Indian Affairs, in Janu ary, 1914. In October, 1915, married Natalie Charlotte, the only daughter of Archibald Lampman.

THE CYNICS

OW often have we heard the cynics prate

Of our proud empire toppling in decay,

Our youth grown sickly and degenerate,

And valour with our grandsires passed away.

How they would mark with supercilious air

The silken hose, the monocle, or ties

Of lurid hue that foppish youngsters wear,

And from such weighty evidence surmise

That manhood and virility were sped

With the black coats of dour Victorian days,

That loyalty and sacrifice were dead

While each his own gain sought in selfish ways :

The men who fell upon the fields of Flanders

Have answered well the sneer of cynic slanders.

��o

��PRAYER IN DARKNESS

PALE Star of Hope We lose thy dim light

Who stumble and grope In the murk of the night!

Art thou but a dream With the dreamer to die

Or still dost thou gleam In the uttermost sky?

We have fallen in regions

Of dust and decay, Where evils in legions

Have marked us for prey.

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