Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/179

 ��Until the dawn of Judgment Day, Obscure and still and white."

"Nay," said the scarlet visitor,

" Though I sink through the sea A ruined thing that was a ship

I sink not as did ye. For ye met with your destiny

By storm or rock or fight, So through the lagging centuries

Ye wear your robes of white.

" But never crashing iceberg

Nor honest shot of foe, Nor hidden reef has sent me

The way that I must go. My wound that stains the waters,

My blood that is like flame, Bear witness to a loathly deed,

A deed without a name.

" I went not forth to battle,

I carried friendly men, The children played about my decks,

The women sang — and then — And then — the sun blushed scarlet

Anrl Heaven hid its face. The world that God created

Became a shameful place I

�� �