Page:Marching Men - War Verses (1917).pdf/35



GREAT white company—
 * By Calvary's way they trod,

A great white company
 * Marching up to God.

Across the Vale of Many Tears,
 * Beyond the Hill of Pain they swept,

Their way was soft with fallen tears
 * Where widowed maid and mother wept.

And some were but as children are,
 * Still warm where mothering hands had pressed,

So young they had not travelled far
 * Beyond the hollow of the nest.

And some were tried and valorous men
 * Whose eyes had seen the hidden sin,

The whitened bones beside the den,
 * The fierce eye gleaming red within.

And some were singing as they went,
 * Full, clarion-clear their voices rang,

With Youth still in their hearts unspent
 * In wistful happiness they sang.