<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Fleurette</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="subhead"><span class="smallcaps">The Wounded Canadian Speaks</span>:</p><p class="line">My leg? It's off at the knee.</p><p class="line">Do I miss it? Well, some. You see</p><p class="line">I've had it since I was born;</p><p class="line">And lately a devilish corn.</p><p class="line">(I rather chuckle with glee</p><p class="line">To think how I've fooled that corn.)</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But I'll hobble around all right.</p><p class="line">It is n't that, it's my face.</p><p class="line">Oh, I know I'm a hideous sight,</p><p class="line">Hardly a thing in place.</p><p class="line">Sort of gargoyle, you'd say.</p><p class="line">Nurse won't give me a glass,</p><p class="line">But I see the folks as they pass</p><p class="line">Shudder and turn away;</p><p class="line">Turn away in distress...</p><p class="line">Mirror enough, I guess.</p><p class="line">I'm gay! You bet I <em>am</em> gay,</p><p class="line">But I was n't a while ago.</p><p class="line">If you'd seen me even to-day,</p><p class="line">The darnedest picture of woe,</p><p class="line">With this Caliban mug of mine,</p><p class="line">So ravaged and raw and red,</p><p class="line">Turned to the wall -- in fine</p><p class="line">Wishing that I was dead....</p><p class="line">What has happened since then,</p><p class="line">Since I lay with my face to the wall,</p><p class="line">The most despairing of men!</p><p class="line">Listen! I'll tell you all.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">That <em>poilu</em> across the way,</p><p class="line">With the shrapnel wound on his head,</p><p class="line">Has a sister: she came to-day</p><p class="line">To sit awhile by his bed.</p><p class="line">All morning I heard him fret:</p><p class="line">"Oh, when will she come, Fleurette?"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Then sudden, a joyous cry;</p><p class="line">The tripping of little feet;</p><p class="line">The softest, tenderest sigh;</p><p class="line">A voice so fresh and sweet;</p><p class="line">Clear as a silver bell,</p><p class="line">Fresh as the morning dews:</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"C'est toi, cest toi, Marcel!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Mon frère, comme je suis heureuse!"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So over the blanket's rim</p><p class="line">I raised my terrible face,</p><p class="line">And I saw -- how I envied him!</p><p class="line">A girl of such delicate grace;</p><p class="line">Sixteen, all laughter and love;</p><p class="line">As gay as a linnet, and yet</p><p class="line">As tenderly sweet as a dove;</p><p class="line">Half woman, half child -- Fleurette.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Then I turned to the wall again.</p><p class="line">(I was awfully blue, you see,)</p><p class="line">And I thought with a bitter pain:</p><p class="line">"Such visions are not for me."</p><p class="line">So there like a log I lay,</p><p class="line">All hidden, I thought, from view,</p><p class="line">When sudden I heard her say,</p><p class="line">"Ah! Who is that <em>malheureux?</em>"</p><p class="line">Then briefly I heard him tell</p><p class="line">(However he came to know)</p><p class="line">How I'd smothered a bomb that fell</p><p class="line">Into the trench, and so</p><p class="line">None of my men were hit,</p><p class="line">Though it busted me up a bit.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Well, I did n't quiver an eye,</p><p class="line">And he chattered and there she sat;</p><p class="line">And I fancied I heard her sigh --</p><p class="line">But I would n't just swear that.</p><p class="line">And maybe she was n't so bright,</p><p class="line">Though she talked in a merry strain,</p><p class="line">And I closed my eyes ever so tight,</p><p class="line">Yet I saw her ever so plain:</p><p class="line">Her dear little tilted nose,</p><p class="line">Her delicate, dimpled chin,</p><p class="line">Her mouth like a budding rose,</p><p class="line">And the glistening pearls within;</p><p class="line">Her eyes like the violet:</p><p class="line">Such a rare little queen -- Fleurette.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And at last when she rose to go,</p><p class="line">The light was a little dim,</p><p class="line">And I ventured to peep, and so</p><p class="line">I saw her, graceful and slim,</p><p class="line">And she kissed him and kissed him, and oh</p><p class="line">How I envied and envied him!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So when she was gone I said</p><p class="line">In rather a dreary voice</p><p class="line">To him of the opposite bed:</p><p class="line">"Ah, friend, how you must rejoice!</p><p class="line">But me, I'm a thing of dread.</p><p class="line">For me nevermore the bliss</p><p class="line">The thrill of a woman's kiss."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Then I stopped, for lo! she was there,</p><p class="line">And a great light shone in her eyes.</p><p class="line">And me! I could only stare,</p><p class="line">I was taken so by surprise,</p><p class="line">When gently she bent her head:</p><p class="line">"<em>May I kiss you, sergeant?</em>" she said.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Then she kissed my burning lips,</p><p class="line">With her mouth like a scented flower,</p><p class="line">And I thrilled to the finger-tips,</p><p class="line">And I had n't even the power</p><p class="line">To say: "God bless you, dear!"</p><p class="line">And I felt such a precious tear</p><p class="line">Fall on my withered cheek,</p><p class="line">And darn it, I could n't speak.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And so she went sadly away,</p><p class="line">And I know that my eyes were wet.</p><p class="line">Ah, not to my dying day</p><p class="line">Will I forget, forget!</p><p class="line">Can you wonder now I am gay?</p><p class="line">God bless her, that little Fleurette!</p></div><p class="byline">Robert W. Service</p></body></html> · Great War