XIII CASUALTY As with varnish red and glistening He had fallen from an engine, And been dragged along the metals. As he lay, by fits half sentient, With his stockinged soles protruded To his bed there came a woman, Stood and looked and sighed a little, I was told it was his sweetheart. They were on the eve of marriage. But her lip was grey and writhen. XIV AVE, CAESAR! FROM the winter's grey despair, Death, the lover of Life, Frees us for ever. Inevitable, silent, unseen, Everywhere always, Shadow by night and as light in the day, Signs she at last to her chosen ; And, as she waves them forth, Sorrow and Joy Lay by their looks and their voices, One in the dim Forever. Into the winter's grey delight, XV 'THE CHIEF' His brow spreads large and placid, and his eye His wise, rare smile is sweet with certainties, As once the son of Zeus with Death and Hell. XVI HOUSE-SURGEON EXCEEDING tall, but built so well his height Half-disappears in flow of chest and limb; Moustache and whisker trooper-like in trim; Frank-faced, frank-eyed, frank-hearted; always bright And always punctual-morning, noon, and night; Bland as a Jesuit, sober as a hymn; Humorous, and yet without a touch of whim; |