Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/109

 The Bearer

Can this check plough ?

Can it sow ? can it reap ? Can we arouse it ?

Is it asleep ?

Can it hear when a child cries ? —

Comfort a wife ? This little metal disk

Stands for a life.

Can this check build,

Laying stone upon stone? Once it was warm flesh

Folded on bone.

Sinew and muscle firm.

Look at it — can This little metal check

Stand for a man ?

The Counter

One — two — three — four —

— Louise Driscoll.

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