Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/196

 170 HABBERTON LULHAM

"They do tell she gets pine and thin, And mopes and mourns that bitterly,

But I can't go and say a word. Because he died for her, you see.

"And day by day I sees it more — I've pieced it all out clear and plain —

As I must go like Dick has gone, Afore I looks at her again.

"Old wall-eyed Bob, there, '11 pine awhile, And listen, maybe, for my call ;

And master, he'll be proper mad, With lambing coming on, and all.

"But there 'tis, and there ain't two ways: He went, and 'tis the only thing ;

Else I shall grow to hate the hill And get ashamed o' shepherding.

"That there's her window down below. Aside the copse, where I could see

(It seems a score o' years agone) Our girl stand waving up to me.

"Come Sunday, then, I'll 'list for sure (The same as you done, Dick, old lad !)

Then, if I gets back, I can go

Fair, like, and face her proud and glad."

— Habberton Lulham.

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