In very shame
Our long-unheeded cry
Grew bitterly more bitterly,
"O why, O why, O why.
May we not feel the lust of steel
The fury-woken thrill--
For men may learn to live and die
And never learn to kill?"
October, 1918
SHE TO HIM
The day you died, my Share of All
My soul was tossed
Hither and thither, like a leaf,
And lost, lost, lost,
From sounds and sight,
Beneath the night
Of gloom and grief.
But--
(Hush, for the wind may hear)
Soon, soon you came in solitude:
And we renewed
All happiness.
Now, who shall guess
How close we are, my dear?
(Hush, for the wind may hear.)
Yet--
Other women wait
Their doors ajar;
And listen, listen, listen,
For the gate,
And murmur, "Soon, the war
Will seem a far,
Dim agony of sleep."
May I be joyful, too,
That day,
For love of you
May I not turn away
Nor--weep.
* * * * *
JOHN DRINKWATER
MALEDICTION
Thrush, across the twilight
Here in the abbey close,
Pouring from your lilac-bough
Note on pebbled note,
Why do you sing so,
Making your song so bright.
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