Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/219

 i

��Robert W. Service

Your minute s nearly gone, my lad, he heard a voice

repeat. Shoot ! shoot ! the dying Zouave moaned ; Shoot ! shoot !

the soldiers said : Then Jean Desprez reached out and shot. . . the

Prussian Major dead.

CARRY ON

T S easy to fight when everything s right,

And you re mad with the thrill and the glory ; It s easy to cheer when victory s near,

And wallow in fields that are gory. It s a different song when everything s wrong,

When you re feeling infernally mortal; When it s ten against one, and hope there is none,

Buck up, little soldier, and chortle: Carry on! Carry on!

There isn t much punch in your blow. You re glaring and staring and hitting out blind; You re muddy and bloody, but never you mind; Carry on! Carry on!

You haven t the ghost of a show; It s looking like death, but while you ve a breath,

Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life,

It s easy to fight when you re winning; It s easy to slave and starve and be brave

When the dawn of success is beginning; But the man who can meet despair and defeat

With a cheer there s the man of God s choosing; The man who can fight to Heaven s own height

Is the man who can fight when he s losing.

Carry on ! Carry on ! Things never were looming so black. But show that you haven t a cowardly streak,

�� �