<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">A Cross in Flanders</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">In</span> the face of death, they say, he joked -- he had no fear:</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">His comrades, when they laid him in a Flanders grave,</p><p class="line">Wrote on a rough-hewn cross -- a Calvary stood near --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">"Without fear he gave</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">His life, cheering his men, with laughter on his lips."</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">So wrote they, mourning him. Yet was there only one</p><p class="line">Who fully understood his laughter, his gay quips,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">One only, she alone --</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">She who, not so long since, when love was new-confest,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Herself toyed with light laughter while her eyes were dim,</p><p class="line">And jested, while with reverence despite her jest</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">She worshipped God and him.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">She knew -- O Love, O Death! -- his soul had been at grips</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">With the most solemn things. For <em>she</em>, was <em>she</em> not dear?</p><p class="line">Yes, he was brave, most brave, with laughter on his lips</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The braver for his fear!</p></div><p class="byline">G. Rostrevor Hamilton</p></body></html> · Great War