<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Mobilization in Brittany</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="subhead">I</p><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">It</span> was silent in the street.</p><p class="line">I did not know until a woman told me,</p><p class="line">Sobbing over the muslin she sold me.</p><p class="line">Then I went out and walked to the square</p><p class="line">And saw a few dazed people standing there.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And then the drums beat, the drums beat!</p><p class="line">O then the drums beat!</p><p class="line">And hurrying, stumbling through the street</p><p class="line">Came the hurrying stumbling feet.</p><p class="line">O I have heard the drums beat</p><p class="line">For war!</p><p class="line">I have heard the townsfolk come,</p><p class="line">I have heard the roll and thunder of the nearest drum</p><p class="line">As the drummer stopped and cried, "Hear!</p><p class="line">Be strong! The summons comes! Prepare!"</p><p class="line">Closing he prayed us to be calm...</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And there was calm in my heart of the desert, of the dead sea,</p><p class="line">Of vast plans of the West before the coming storm,</p><p class="line">And there was calm in their eyes like the last calm that shall be.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And then the drum beat,</p><p class="line">The fatal drum beat,</p><p class="line">And the drummer marched through the street</p><p class="line">And down to another square,</p><p class="line">And the drummer above took up the beat</p><p class="line">And set it onward where</p><p class="line">Huddled, we stood and heard the drums roll,</p><p class="line">And then a bell began to toll.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">O I have heard the thunder of drums</p><p class="line">Crashing into simple poor homes.</p><p class="line">I have heard the drums roll "Farewell!"</p><p class="line">I have heard the tolling cathedral bell.</p><p class="line">Will it ever peal again?</p><p class="line">Shall I ever smile or feel again?</p><p class="line">What was joy? What was pain?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For I have heard the drums beat,</p><p class="line">I have seen the drummer striding from street to street,</p><p class="line">Crying, "Be strong! Hear what I must tell!"</p><p class="line">While the drums roared and rolled and beat</p><p class="line">For war!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="subhead">II</p><p class="line">Last night the men of this region were leaving. Now they are far.</p><p class="line">Rough and strong they are, proud and gay they are.</p><p class="line">So this is the way of war...</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The train was full and we all shouted as it pulled away.</p><p class="line">They sang an old war-song, they were true to themselves, they were gay!</p><p class="line">We might have thought they were going for a holiday --</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Except for something in the air,</p><p class="line">Except for the weeping of the ruddy old women of Finistère.</p><p class="line">The younger women do not weep. They dream and stare.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">They seem to be walking in dreams. They seem not to know</p><p class="line">It is their homes, their happiness, vanishing so.</p><p class="line">(Every strong man between twenty and forty must go.)</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">They sang an old war-song. I have heard it often in other days,</p><p class="line">But never before when War was walking the world's highways.</p><p class="line">They sang, they shouted, the <em>Marseillaise!</em></p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The train went and another has gone, but none, coming, has brought word.</p><p class="line">Though you may know, you, out in the world, we have not heard,</p><p class="line">We are not sure that the great battalions have stirred --</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Except for something, something in the air</p><p class="line">Except for the weeping of the wild old women of Finistère.</p><p class="line">How long will the others dream and stare?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The train went. The strong men of this region are all away, afar.</p><p class="line">Rough and strong they are, proud and gay they are.</p><p class="line">So this is the way of war...</p></div><p class="byline">Grace Fallow Norton</p></body></html> · Great War