E. W. Hornung

“ Deep dread but heightened
your mirth.
Your idols' feet never turned to
clay—
Never lit upon common earth.
Love is the Game but is not the
Goal:
You played it together, body and
soul,
And you had your Candle's
worth. ”

“ With the delicate springs of the
complex life
To be led with a highly sensitised
wife
In a slightly rarefied air!
YET it's good to be back with
the old platoon—
"A man in a world of men"! ”

“ What are the men about?
Each one sticking a haunted
head
Into a spectral clout!
Funny, the dearth of gibe and
joke,
When each one looks like a pig
in a poke,
Not omitting the snout!
THERE'S your mask, Sir! No
time to lose! ”

“ THEY talk—and he writhes
—"of our spirit out here,
Our valour and all the rest!
There's my poor, lonely, delicate
dear,
As brave as the very best!
We stand or fall in a cheery
crowd,
And yet how often we grouse
aloud! ”

“ For he never says where you hurl
it from,
And it might be from your
trench.
He never might lead a stealthy
band,
Or toe the horrors of No Man's
Land,
Or swim at the sickly stench. . . . ”