Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/223

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��Virna Sheard

Mrs Charles Sheard of Toronto, wife of Dr. Charles Sheard, Af.P. Author of The Miracle and Other Poems Trevelyan s Little Daughters A Maid of Many Moods By the Queen s Grace The Man at Lone Lake etc. Born at Cobourg, Ontario. A daughter of the late Eldridge Stanton of Toronto. Of United Empire Loyalist descent. A booklet of her war poems, entitled Carry On, has been widely distributed.

THE YOUNG KNIGHTS

OW they remain to us forever young

Who with such splendour gave their youth away: Perpetual Spring is their inheritance, Though they have lived in Flanders and in France

A round of years, in one remembered day.

They drained life s goblet as a joyous draught

And left within the cup no bitter lees. Sweetly they answered to the King s behest, And gallantly fared forth upon a quest,

Beset by foes on land and on the seas.

So in the ancient world hath bloomed again

The rose of old romance red as of yore ; The flower of high emprise hath whitely blown Above the graves of those we call our own, And we shall know its fragrance evermore.

Now if their deeds were written with the stars,

In golden letters on the midnight sky They would not care. They were so young and dear, They loved the best the things that were most near,

And gave no thought to glory far and high.

They need no shafts of marble pure and cold;

No painted windows radiantly bright; Across our hearts their names are carven deep In waking dreams, and in the dreams of sleep,

They bring us still ineffable delight.

Methinks heaven s gates swing open very wide To welcome in a host so fair and strong ;

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