<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">"-- But a Short Time to Live"</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Our</span> little hour, -- how swift it flies</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When poppies flare and lilies smile;</p><p class="line">How soon the fleeting minute dies,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Leaving us but a little while</p><p class="line">To dream our dream, to sing our song,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To pick the fruit, to pluck the flower,</p><p class="line">The Gods -- They do not give us long, --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">One little hour.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Our little hour, -- how short it is</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When Love with dew-eyed loveliness</p><p class="line">Raises her lips for ours to kiss</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And dies within our first caress.</p><p class="line">Youth flickers out like wind-blown flame,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Sweets of to-day to-morrow sour,</p><p class="line">For Time and Death, relentless, claim</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Our little hour.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Our little hour, -- how short a time</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To wage our wars, to fan our hates,</p><p class="line">To take our fill of armoured crime,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To troop our banners, storm the gates.</p><p class="line">Blood on the sword, our eyes blood-red,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Blind in our puny reign of power,</p><p class="line">Do we forget how soon is sped</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Our little hour?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Our little hour, -- how soon it dies:</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">How short a time to tell our beads,</p><p class="line">To chant our feeble Litanies,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To think sweet thoughts, to do good deeds.</p><p class="line">The altar lights grow pale and dim,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The bells hang silent in the tower --</p><p class="line">So passes with the dying hymn</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Our little hour.</p></div><p class="byline">Leslie Coulson</p></body></html> · Great War