<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">No Man's Land</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">No</span> Man's Land is an eerie sight</p><p class="line">At early dawn in the pale gray light.</p><p class="line">Never a house and never a hedge</p><p class="line">In No Man's Land from edge to edge,</p><p class="line">And never a living soul walks there</p><p class="line">To taste the fresh of the morning air; --</p><p class="line">Only some lumps of rotting clay,</p><p class="line">That were friends or foemen yesterday.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What are the bounds of No Man's Land?</p><p class="line">You can see them clearly on either hand,</p><p class="line">A mound of rag-bags gray in the sun,</p><p class="line">Or a furrow of brown where the earthworks run</p><p class="line">From the eastern hills to the western sea,</p><p class="line">Through field or forest o'er river and lea;</p><p class="line">No man may pass them, but aim you well</p><p class="line">And Death rides across on the bullet or shell.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But No Man's Land is a goblin sight</p><p class="line">When patrols crawl over at dead o' night;</p><p class="line"><em>Boche</em> or British, Belgian or French,</p><p class="line">You dice with death when you cross the trench.</p><p class="line">When the "rapid," like fireflies in the dark,</p><p class="line">Flits down the parapet spark by spark,</p><p class="line">And you drop for cover to keep your head</p><p class="line">With your face on the breast of the four months' dead.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The man who ranges in No Man's Land</p><p class="line">Is dogged by the shadows on either hand</p><p class="line">When the star-shell's flare, as it bursts o'erhead,</p><p class="line">Scares the gray rats that feed on the dead,</p><p class="line">And the bursting bomb or the bayonet-snatch</p><p class="line">May answer the click of your safety-catch,</p><p class="line">For the lone patrol, with his life in his hand,</p><p class="line">Is hunting for blood in No Man's Land.</p></div><p class="byline">James H. Knight-Adkin</p></body></html> · Great War