Page:Marching Men - War Verses (1917).pdf/38



ETWEEN the calling clamors of the day—
 * Those duties and distractions that implore
 * A woman's heart—the children's soft uproar,

Mercifully unconscious at their play— And mine own arméd will, I keep at bay
 * The haunting fear that waits beside my door,
 * The furtive ghost that must forever more

Companion me upon the narrowing way;

But with the night—the night that used to be
 * Filled with such deep serenities of space—

Dim shapes of terror stretch their hands to me,
 * And dread forebodings lurk in every place;

I shrink from even the starlight lest I see
 * In its pale gleam a silent, upturned face.