Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/173

 A mitrailleuse battery planted on top of this well- chosen ridge

Held the road for the Prussians and covered the direct approach to the bridge.

It was madness to dare the dense murder that spewed

from those ghastly machines. (Only those who have danced to its music can know

what the mitrailleuse means.) But the bridge on the Aisne was a menace; our

safety demanded its fall : " Engineers, — volunteers ! " In a body, the Royals

stood out at the call.

Death at best was the fate of that mission — to

their glory not one was dismayed. A party was chosen — and seven survived till the

powder was laid. And they died with their fuses unlighted. Another

detachment ! Again A sortie is made — all too vainly. The bridge still

commanded the Aisne.

We were fighting two foes — Time and Prussia — the moments were worth more than troops.

We must blow up the bridge. A lone soldier darts out from the Royals and swoops

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