Page:More songs by the fighting men, soldier poets, second series, 1917.djvu/71

Malcolm Hemphrey But rise to sink, and each black flake

Clings as a lambent stain upon

The young year's blossoms as they wake

And then is gone.

Yet wait! some day a greater gale

Of Hope and Faith shall drive all doubt

And sharp despair beyond the pale—

Shall drive without

The soul's infinite sorrow and

Vast shadows of a red, red year,

And undefiled, superbly grand,

Holy and dear

Again the asphodel shall grace

The world's lone, ravaged wilderness;

And Youth, in roaming through that place

Of quietness,

Shall rest beside the peaceful graves

Where wild bees hover in the grass,

Which every warm and soft breeze waves;

And ere he pass

Shall kneel and lift a hymn of praise

For those who fought, without a fear

Or doubting heart to tear, to raise

God's good New Year!

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