Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/19

 Marion Anning ''Mrs. Norman Amung of Chilhwack, B.C., an elder sister of Miss Eloise Street (q.v.). Her husband is serving in France with the 7th Railway Battalion.''

PRING stood on the edge of the dreadful fields :To scatter her flowers. Roared War and Death, in ribald mirth,
 * 'This plain is ours!'

In a horror of mud and blood, they cast
 * The luminous maid;

But up she sprang, in her smirched gown,
 * Defiant and unafraid.

'Stark War,' she cried, 'and hateful Death,
 * List' well to my words!

For every pellet of lead, I will loose
 * A thousand singing birds;

For every shell that scars my earth,
 * A thousand flowers will sow;

And on each piteous shattered tree,
 * New shoots and leaves shall grow.

Yea, every drop of valiant blood
 * Your rage has drawn

Shall rise from the ground and mock at you,
 * Ere I pass on!

Then War and Death, amazed and shuddering,
 * Saw upon the ground,

Quivering and red, the poppies lie,
 * Like pools of blood around;

And heard this chant, 'O Death, where is thy sting?
 * Thou canst not kill

That symbol of the risen Christ,
 * The Spring!'