Page:Flower of youth, poems in war time, Tynan, 1915.djvu/16

14 THE GOLDEN BOY

times of peace, so clean and bright,

And with a new-washed morning face,

He walked Pall Mall, a goodly sight,

The finished flower of all the race.

Or through Bond Street and Piccadilly,

Went spick-and-span, without a soil,

As careless as the July lily

That spins not, neither does she toil.

He took his soldiering as sport,

And beauteous in his mufti stirred

Romance i' the simple female sort

That loves a guardsman or a lord.

And now, knee-deep in muddy water,

Unwashed, unshaven, see him go!

His garments stained with mud and slaughter

Would break the heart of Savile Row.