Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/63

 Douglas Leader Durkin

When he went to school to Fortune, ate with harlots,

slept with thugs,

Primed his soul on petty crimes and devil s lies; When he stacked the cards with Heaven, when he tossed

the dice with Death,

There was never God nor Christ nor woman s love; But the Circumstance that damned him when he drew

his first faint breath Wrote his record for the Book of Life above.

When he trailed the crowded city, shared his booty with

the gang,

Crawled to hiding from the law that man had made, He was still a soulless devil biding still his time to hang,

Doomed to die the death of Hell but unafraid ! He was still the hound of Hades, hunting still the devil s

game,

With the brand of Satan seared upon his brow, Still the low, ditch- far rowed issue of a thing without a

name, Snatching blessings from his curse of Here and Now.

When he joined the brown battalions, set his face to

meet the dawn,

Where the vandal-lust of princes gathered toll, Never call of Christian duty drew his jaunty spirit on,

Never sacred thought or impulse stirred his soul ; There was ne er a farewell token, ne er a prayer to God

above,

There was ne er a wish of luck or fond good-bye ; But the hungry kiss of passion from his little light o

love And a half -shed tear that lingered in her eye.

When he left his Flemish billet, took his turn within

the line, -He could smile at slush and slime and beds of mud;

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