<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">A Letter from the Front</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I <span class="smallcaps">was</span> out early to-day, spying about</p><p class="line">From the top of a haystack -- such a lovely morning --</p><p class="line">And when I mounted again to canter back</p><p class="line">I saw across a field in the broad sunlight</p><p class="line">A young Gunner Subaltern, stalking along</p><p class="line">With a rook-rifle held at the ready, and -- would you believe it? --</p><p class="line">A domestic cat, soberly marching beside him.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So I laughed, and felt quite well disposed to the youngster,</p><p class="line">And shouted out "the top of the morning" to him,</p><p class="line">And wished him "Good sport!" -- and then I remembered</p><p class="line">My rank, and his, and what I ought to be doing:</p><p class="line">And I rode nearer, and added, "I can only suppose</p><p class="line">You have not seen the Commander-in-Chief's order</p><p class="line">Forbidding English officers to annoy their Allies</p><p class="line">By hunting and shooting."</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:9%">But he stood and saluted</p><p class="line">And said earnestly, "I beg your pardon, Sir,</p><p class="line">I was only going out to shoot a sparrow</p><p class="line">To feed my cat with."</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:9%">So there was the whole picture,</p><p class="line">The lovely early morning, the occasional shell</p><p class="line">Screeching and scattering past us, the empty landscape, --</p><p class="line">Empty, except for the young Gunner saluting,</p><p class="line">And the cat, anxiously watching his every movement.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I may be wrong, and I may have told it badly,</p><p class="line">But it struck <em>me</em> as being extremely ludicrous.</p></div><p class="byline">Henry Newbolt</p></body></html> · Great War