Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/141

 Isabel Ecclestone Mackay

You have fought; you have slain, And the death that you gave has been given; Dead men, questioning, lie around With their faces from heaven. War is just; death is kind, For a cause high and true———— Did these die, as night dies, That new day might shine through? In terrible silence they lie, mutely challenging one Who would darken a world that an Eagle might build in the Sun!

"O God, blind the eyes death has cleared, Blind the soul that has seen! I have entered thy temple of war With a spirit unclean. I have fought without faith, without flame, For a fair-sounding lie; For pride have I slaughtered my brother, O God, let me die!'