Page:For remembrance, soldier poets who have fallen in the war, Adcock, 1920.djvu/350

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Not to this had we sacrificed:

To sit at the last where the players diced

With blood-hot hands for the robes of Christ,

And snatch at the Devil's gold.

Sing the new soldiers:

Sing the old and new soldiers in unison:

A typical new marching song, to stand by that, is the powerful protest and appeal, 'Before the Assault,' into which R. E. Vernède has distilled the innermost soul and purpose of the Allied Armies:

If through this roar o' guns one prayer may reach Thee,

Lord of all Life, whose mercies never sleep,

Not in our time, not now, Lord, we beseech Thee

To grant us peace. The sword has bit too deep.