Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/38

 Horace Bray

Second Lieutenant, R.A.F. Killed by accident at Shotwick, England, in a collision, July 9th, 1918, when on the eve of departure for France. Had previously^ served in France as a cavalryman, in important engagements in the Ypres salient, and had been seriously wounded. Horace Edgar Kings-mill Bray was born at Thamesville, Ontario, March 27th, 1896, the second son of the Rev. H. B. Bray, now Rector of St. John s Church, Thames- ford, Ontario. His secondary education was received at the Gait Collegiate Institute. When about to enter the University, war broke out, and the gallant boy (but eighteen then) enlisted.

S wrestler, snatching breathing space To fling a thought beyond the ring,

As runner, panting in a race,

Who sends a sudden thought awing ;

So in our strife we pause awhile The throbbing air is mute a space,

A whisper steals from file to file, Bobs is no longer in his place.

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��THE KITCHENER CHAP

E wore twin stripes of gold upon

An empty tunic sleeve ; His eyes were blue, his face so young

One hardly could believe That he had seen the death and hate

That make the whole world grieve.

His hair was fair, his eyes were blue,

I thought that I could see (Just when his sunny smile came through)

The lad he used to be: Dear happy little mother s lad

Of only two or three.

But when across his eyes there came His mouth set very hard and straight,

He was a man again.

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