Page:Main Street and other poems, Kilmer, 1917.djvu/70

MAIN STREET AND OTHER POEMS

THE NEW SCHOOL (continued) For many a youthful shoulder now is gay with an epaulet,

And the hand that was deft with a cricket-bat is defter with a sword,

And some of the lads will laugh to-day where the trench is red and wet,

And some will win on the bloody field the accolade of the Lord.

They have taken their youth and mirth away from the study and playing-ground

To a new school in an alien land beneath an alien sky;

Out in the smoke and roar of the fight their lessons and games are found,

And they who were learning how to live are learning how to die.

And after the golden day has come and the war is at an end,

A slab of bronze on the chapel wall will tell of the noble dead. [ 64 ]