Page:The Muse in Arms, Osborn (ed), 1917.djvu/101

Rh One cry;

"We're comin' soon! look out!"

There is opened hell

Over there. Fragments fly,

Rifles and bits of men whirled at the sky:

Dust, smoke, thunder. A sudden bout

Of machine-guns chattering

And redoubled battering

As if in fury at their daring

No good staring.

Time soon now home  house on a sunlit hill

Gone like a flickered page.

Time soon now zero  will engage

A sudden thrill.

"Fix bayonets."

Gods! we have our fill

Of fear, hysteria, exultation, rage—

Rage to kill

My heart burns hot, whiter and whiter,

Contracts tighter and tighter,

Until I stifle with the will

Long forged, now used—

(Though utterly strained)

O pounding heart,

Baffled, confused,