Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/94

 68 LINCOLN COLCORD

A few men struggle on the water, where she went

down; They ding for a while to fragments of wreckage ; There is no help in sight — they cannot be saved.

(Down in the close, tight shell — in the unseen,

mysterious vessel, Crouching in a dim chamber, in utter silence,

wrapped in impenetrable privacy, apart from

life, cut off from world of land and sea, A man sits, breathing hard, clenching his hands ; Far above him, where sunlight strikes on breaking

wave, a secret eye looks out, A secret mirror throws down to him the story there ; One long, intense, absorbing glance — then to the

signal stretches out his hand ; Turning away, as darkly as she came, the submarine

speeds homeward, Leaving the sea to seal her work and bury her dead.)

9.

Behold! Hour of the War !

Life everywhere flowing in strange new channels !

The world aroused, awakened ! The silence rent ! Peace shattered and overthrown !

The well-ordered conventions rudely broken up ! The illusions dissipated ! The motives sud- denly disclosed !

�� �